


For the Moment

by RedfieldandNivans



Category: Biohazard | Resident Evil (Gameverse), NivanField - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe, Chris is 26, Chris is ex-military, Gradual progression, High School AU, M/M, Or is it the other way around...?, Piers is 18, Plot What Plot, Prompt Fic, Slice of Life, Slow Build, Small town living, The Nivans have a ranch, The T.A. falls for the student, more side characters to be announced in later chapters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-05-08
Updated: 2016-06-01
Packaged: 2018-01-23 23:23:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 26
Words: 47,152
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1583189
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedfieldandNivans/pseuds/RedfieldandNivans
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The everyday life of Piers Nivans, just your regular high school student, is about to change when a chance meeting has him butting heads with the school's new teaching assistant, Chris Redfield. Very Slice of Life and plotwhatplot. Probably will earn a higher rating in later chapters...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Jake Muller, Out!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> October 2017 UPDATE: We've decided to revise and add to a few of the earlier chapters in For The Moment in an attempt to get this fic moving again. This AU fic is pretty damn long as it is, but revisions are a good thing for all of us-! And who doesn't like longer chapters? Thank you again for all your wonderful comments and support over the years. Our Crew is still the best of the best!

_“Are you fucking kidding me right now?”_

The desk at the front of the classroom hit the ground without warning, sending the open book, binder and pen that had been laying on it skidding across the floor. Whatever chatter had been going on within the confines of the room ceased with the tall ginger student’s sudden outburst. 

_“Like fucking hell that’s true.”_ He glared back at the girls behind him as though they had just told him some terrible secret he’d rather not have heard.

Jake didn’t seem concerned by the silence that followed his outburst, or the fact that the class was supposed to be doing quiet reading. Or that Mr. Simmons was glaring at him from his desk a few feet away. 

“ _Muller!”_

Jake ignored their teacher, turning to his friends a row behind. “Who told you that?”

_“Jacob Muller!_ _Out!”_ Simmons shouted.

Helena tried her best to control the smile that was forming across her lips while Jake flipped off their irate teacher and stormed out of the room. Piers, who was seated a row away and agitated by the inconvenient rush of adrenaline he’d just experienced for no reason, rolled his eyes at her. He knew she had to have done something stupid to rile up their hot-headed comrade this time.

Piers tried his damnedest to go back to reading, only to have the idle chatter around him get louder after Simmons followed Jake out of the room. 

“He’s so easy to rile up~” Deborah giggled, proud of herself for once again causing a reaction out of the hot-headed Muller. Helena bumped fists with her sister, equally amused by the whole thing. “Bring up Sherry in any context and he just loses it.” 

“It’s stupid. Why do you keep doing it?” 

Both girls looked at Piers with equally baffled expressions. Deborah sighed a little at the way their male friend shrugged off their fun so easily. “Leave it to Piers to be a party-pooper.”

Helena stuck out her tongue at him in agreement.

Unlike most of the people at this school, Piers actually _tried_ to retain what his teachers were trying to teach him. He hated a lot of classes, sure, but at least he respected the people teaching them enough to not completely interrupt a class like this; especially for no reason. There was absolutely no way that Mr. Simmons was going to come back in here and continue teaching now. No, Simmons held grudges, and he was going to sit in his chair and stay pissed off for the rest of the day. It was a damn good thing Piers was enjoying this book because reading was all they were going to be doing in this class. 

Piers frowned at his friends, “I’m just saying. You _know_ Jake has zero control over his big dumb mouth, and yet you seem to enjoy torturing him _. In class._ ”

“Come on! You can’t pretend you’re not the least bit interested in what’s been going on between Sherry and Jake.” Deborah was not having any of Piers’ casual dismissal today. “And have you not _seen_ that new teacher’s assistant?? He’s smoking hot! No wonder Jake’s jealous of him.”

Helena agreed by making an appreciative sound.

Piers closed his book. He wasn’t going to get any reading done like this. “Actually. I _have_ seen him." From a distance, mind you. "I also happen to know that he’s Claire’s older brother so I’d watch how you talk about him around her.” If Helena or Deborah said anything gross about their friend’s older sibling being attractive Claire might actually hit one of them. Piers wouldn’t put it past the fiery redhead. 

Helena made a face that clearly showed her distaste of where this conversation was going, while Deborah just pouted. Piers never played their game. 

“Well anyone could have figured that out, Einstein, since they’re both _Redfields_.” 

“I’m really glad we had this conversation, Helena.” 

“Shut up, duck butt.” 

“Helena Harper, I swear to whatever god you pray to that if you call me that one more time-!”


	2. Its cute

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I hate summaries and Jake is a tool.

 

“You _have_ to tell me what happened.” 

Piers groaned at the very idea, but Claire had that look that said she wouldn’t take no for an answer. He hated that look. It _always_ won. 

“They were bugging Jake about Sherry.” 

“Like always, that isn’t new. Jake doesn’t throw desks when they tease him, though.” 

Again, Piers groaned. He didn’t gossip. He hated gossip. _They_ made him do it despite all of this. “Well he did this time.” 

“Yes he did. He threw a desk in the middle of Simmons’ English class, and Simmons chased him all the way to Principle Wesker’s office, and now Jake’s suspended for three days and _you wont tell me why!”_  

And then there were hands in his hair, and Piers nearly jumped across the table in surprise. Sherry giggled from behind him. “What are you two talking about?” 

Claire grinned. “Jake.” 

“Oh _no_.”

At least someone understood that gossiping was bad.

“What did he do now?” 

Or not. 

“You girls are the worst. Just let it go already.” No one was listening to him. 

“He threw a desk and got suspended.” Claire told her.

Sherry looked genuinely surprised, worried and horrified all at the same time. “You’re kidding! Why??” 

“I don’t know. Piers, why don’t you let us in on it?” 

“Ask Helena or Deborah.” 

“Piers!” Claire’s shout made him wince. He’d officially lost this fight. 

“Alright! You win. Geez.” It wasn’t fair to have Redfield and Birkin tag-teaming him like this. He didn’t stand a chance. “Helena and Deborah were gushing about the new T.A.-“ 

“-My brother?” 

“Are you listening or not?” 

Sherry shushed Claire quickly with a slap to the shoulder. 

“They were gushing and Jake was making fun of them, so they started teasing him about how... You know. Stuff.” 

“ _Piers Nivans_.” 

He rolled his eyes as he was chastised. “They started teasing him about how, and I quote, ‘ _adorable they would look if Sherry hooked up with the new T.A’_ and Jake got upset. You know how they egg him on when he’s already angry. They kept going on about how Sherry’s probably exactly the sort of girl he’d be interested in – _blah blah blah_ -and he lost it.” 

Sherry blushed bright red and Claire started howling like this was the best thing she’d heard all day.

Piers just shook his head. 

“Next time, ask Helena.” 

“I can’t believe he got suspended for something so stupid.”

Claire giggled and hugged Sherry’s shoulder. “That just means he really likes you Sherry! Its cute, in a strange Jake Muller kind of way.”

Piers made a face. “Its cute?” He really didn’t get it. Though he was glad Claire didn’t seem to mind the subject involved her brother. She didn’t seem phased that Muller had been suspended because of his random violent tendencies either.

“Yeah, sure it’s cute.” Claire nodded, confident that she knew exactly what she was talking about. Piers was pretty sure that she was mistaking ‘Cute’ for ‘Obsessive’ and ‘Really Weird’. 

“If you say so...” 

He was never going to understand the way girls thought.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise Chris is in the next chapter.


	3. Shut up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Who's that handsome scruffy man?

When his dad was home, it was normal for Piers and his father to end up at the shooting range after school. It was almost routine for them seeing as Piers’ family had a background in the military and Piers enjoyed practice at the range better than shooting cans in the backyard. What Piers didn’t expect this time around was the tall, dark haired scruffy stranger that looked vaguely familiar who decided that they needed to have some kind of competition. 

He didn’t know how it had started, but there was no way that he was going to lose this little game of theirs. Piers shifted half an inch, bracing for the recoil on his shoulder. 

“Not bad.” 

“Shut up.” It felt like this guy was mocking him. 

“Honestly. It was a nice shot.” 

“Uh huh.” 

From the sidelines, Piers’ dad chuckled at the back and forth banter between both shooters but besides that he kept his own comments to himself. 

The ass with the Nine-oh-Nine took a second to aim before firing at the target a little more than 100 feet away and Piers winced at how accurate this guy was with a fucking handgun. 

“. . .” 

Was he a little jealous? It was hard not to be. Piers was a good shot, pretty much a natural, but this guy. Whoever this guy was, he was a good shot with _training_. Piers’ training consisted of a few hours in a shooting range at least once a month. 

“Well? Its your shot.” 

Piers’ jaw tightened. “Shut up.” 

His shot was off by a millimeter and his adversary seemed to notice. 

“I’m making you mad.” 

“No you’re not. Shut up, please. I’m trying to concentrate.” 

And for once, the stranger did. He leveled his gun and took a shot, and Piers watched through his scope. It wasn’t dead on, but it was close enough considering this guy wasn’t using a scope himself. 

“. . .” 

This time, he fired before he was finished aiming; his finger twitched too heavy on the trigger and Piers practically felt his competition wince. 

“You’re concentrating too hard on everything else.” 

“Yeah. Okay.” 

“Pay attention to what your shooting, not me.” 

Piers flushed – angrily. Who even said that he was paying more attention to this ass than what he was doing?? “I’m not-!” 

“-Then hit your target.” 

Piers turned to glare at the jerk next to him, but his glare faltered at the sight of his impish grin, and for whatever reason, it took the edge off Piers’ sharp temper. The teen shook his head with an amused snort and looked through his sights again. This guy was playing with him. Why was he taking this so seriously? 

He hit his mark for the first time since this competition started. 

“That was nice. You’re a natural.” 

“Oh now you’re just being condescending.” 

The guy laughed, not up to arguing with the kid he was playing with. Instead he took a shot at the target they were sharing. It was nowhere near a perfect shot – but he wasn’t using a rifle. 

They went back and forth a few more rounds before the nine-oh-nine’s safety clicked, drawing Piers’ attention. 

“You’re going?” 

“What. You gonna miss me?”  

Flustered by the mere thought, Piers shut his mouth. 

“Keep at it kid. I meant it when I said you’re a natural.” And with that he left.

Piers’ concentration was off the rest of the night, and he hated it.


	4. Calm your Ovaries

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Girls are weird.

Sherry and Helena were on Student Council, which meant that every one of their friends had to participate in all the activities. Sherry had a look of determination and a way with people that made them do what she wanted them to. Even against their will. That was why Piers and Jake were sitting there with the girls. Jake was still suspended but Sherry had still somehow talked him into coming to this – this... 

“What are we even here for?” Piers asked. 

Helena started passing out flyers as if that was her cue. 

“We’re planning another school dance in a month or so, and we need opinions on what we should do for it.” 

Oh great. “How about not having one?” The flyer was pretty much a request for _theme_ ideas. Where they supposed to post these around the school? 

“Fuck. I agree completely with Nivans.” 

It was actually rare for Jake to agree with anything Piers said. 

Piers nodded, “See? You have two votes to stop while you’re ahead of the game.” 

Sherry puffed out her cheeks in a way that made her look like an adorable little hamster and Piers could feel his will to resist draining quickly. He felt bad for expressing his opinions after seeing that face so he shut his mouth. 

By the looks of it, Jake felt the same way he did. 

“ _Guys_.” Sherry pouted. “Do you really need to be so pessimistic? It’ll be really fun, I swear! We just need a wide variety of _good_ opinions to make this work for _everyone_.” 

Piers saw Jake roll his eyes, and noticed how despite his opinions, Rowdy Mr. Muller kept them to himself when it came to what Sherry wanted. It made Piers snort, amused. 

“Okay. Good opinions. You need a theme, right?” Piers looked between both girls, before focusing on Helena. 

“It would help. Do you have anything in mind?” 

Sherry smiled and Piers grinned, pausing thoughtfully as he leaned back in his chair. “ _Under the sea_.” 

Jake groaned. “That’s the corniest shit I’ve ever heard! Fuck you, Nivans! You want mermaids and –“ he paused. 

“Yeah...?” Piers just kept grinning, waiting for Jake to continue. 

“And...actually that ain’t a bad idea.” He changed his mind, “You girls gonna dress up?” 

Sherry looked confused, but Helena caught onto where he was going right away. “You’re such a pervert, Jake! We’re not going to jump around in seashells!” 

As if she finally got it, Sherry slapped Jake’s shoulder in disapproval, and Piers was once again amazed by how she got away with that. 

“Fine! I wont ask for help anymore! You’re both useless anyway.” Helena wasn’t exactly pleased, but letting the boys off the hook this time was probably for the best. Piers had no intention of actually helping with this. He hated these kinds of events. 

Jake moved to get up – now that they were excused from the planning there was no reason to be there. Piers started to stand too, only to be shoved back into his chair right along with Jake. Claire took a seat across from the boys after successfully pushing them back into their seats. 

“You guys look like you’re having fun. What’s up?” 

Before anyone could even start to answer, Helena was practically climbing over the table to get a seat by Claire. She’d been waiting to talk to her all day. “Claire! Oh, Claire you never told me your brother was such a hottie! How could you keep that a secret??” She gushed. 

Piers couldn’t stop himself from laughing. 

For once, Claire Redfield was left momentarily speechless. It was a sight to behold. 

“Are you fucking joking? _Again_ with that guy?” Jake was not impressed, and he probably would have left if Sherry hadn’t been there. Piers got the feeling that Jake was a little jealous because of the teasing. He wasn’t taking that shit to heart, was he? Piers really couldn’t see Sherry with anyone other than Muller. 

“H-Helena!” Claire stuttered. 

“No I mean it! Have you actually talked to him? I know a girl in his class so I had the _privilege_  of having a little one-on-one with Mr. Redfield~ Oh baby, be still my heart!” 

Claire actually scoffed at that. “Helena jesus. Calm your ovaries, he’s my _brother_!” 

Sherry giggled, and Jake shot her a look, a look that just had Piers laughing again. 

“Fuck, you sound desperate, Harper.” 

Jake’s comment didn’t seem to phase her and Helena instead shook Claire’s arm to let her know just how serious she was. 

“Claire, you really need to introduce me.” 

“Introduce you. To my brother.” Claire sounded bewildered. 

“Please~” 

That was enough of that. Piers couldn’t keep himself from laughing as he stood up. “Helena, try keeping a boyfriend your _own_ age before going for older men.” 

Claire thought that was hilarious. Helena, on the other hand. 

“Fuck you, Piers!” 

Jake howled.


	5. Too Many Questions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Piers runs into Chris at the range again, and this time its a bit better.

A shot sounded loudly through the confines of the indoor range and Piers waited, still holding the rifle to his shoulder despite the dull ache from the constant repetition of recoil. His dad stood beside him with a pair of binoculars aimed at the paper target a hundred or so feet away. 

“You can do better. Your shot’s a little off center, are you compensating for your breathing like I showed you?” 

Piers stayed quiet, taking aim again and steadying his breathing a little bit more than before. He braced for the coming recoil and took a shot. 

His dad made a sound that was less than pleased and the ache in Piers’ shoulder throbbed. 

What saved him was that his father was popular for a man who was out of town more often than he was in town. Mr. Nivans spotted someone he knew and excused himself from the company of his son, giving Piers’ shoulder a much needed break. Piers unloaded the chamber and set the rifle aside for the time being, thankful for this small reprieve. 

What surprised him was the voice that floated over from the next stall over. 

“Your dad’s pretty hard on you, isn’t he?” 

Piers leaned forward, glancing around the wall that separated his booth from the next one, and he was surprised to find the same guy from the other day, easily recognizable by the scruff on his face and the nine-oh-nine in his hand. 

Piers’ stomach fluttered. 

“I didn’t notice. Is he?” Why did he say that? Of course he knew his father was hard on him. He experienced it every time the man was home. 

The stranger spared a glance towards Piers before taking a few shots at his target, nodding his head. “If he’s fussing over a millimeter, then yeah, I’d say he’s pretty hard on you.” 

“He just wants me to get better.” 

The guy actually laughed. “Kid, you’re already one of the best shots I’ve seen.” 

It was funny how that one compliment made him feel, and it was a good thing that this stranger was paying more attention to his target right now because Piers could feel himself turning a shade of red. “Thanks...” 

As if taking that as a hint, the stranger lowered his gun and turned, extending his right hand to Piers. “Name’s Chris.” 

Piers took the invitation and shook Chris’ hand. “Piers.” 

Chris held up the nine-oh-nine for Piers to see before asking “You ever use one of these, or are you strictly rifles?” 

“Uuh...” He had to hesitate a minute, like he had to think about it. “No... No I’ve used a handgun before, just not as often.” 

Chris offered up his gun without a word and Piers hesitated again before taking it. When he stepped out of the way, Piers took it as an invitation to take a few shots at Chris’ target. 

The weight was different – the rifle was much heavier and the last handgun Piers had used had been a lot lighter. He was also used to the weight against his shoulder when he aimed and without it, it felt strange, but Piers lifted the barrel anyway. He was used to seeing through a scope, but found that it wasn’t so bad without one. 

He took two slow shots, and surprised himself with his own accuracy. 

“Not bad at all.” 

Did Chris realize how well he was feeding Piers’ ego? 

“Did you really expect any less?” 

Chris laughed again and Piers found himself drawn to the sound. 

It was unnerving how it affected him. 

Piers handed back the nine-oh-nine, almost sad to return the gun to its owner – it was a nice piece of equipment if Piers was any judge. 

That was his cue to go back to his own booth, but he couldn’t tear himself away just yet. Now that they weren’t competing, and Piers wasn’t being overly aggressive and angry at the situation, he couldn’t help feeling drawn to this particular individual. Like he knew there was a story here, and he needed to figure it out. So he stayed to watch. 

Chris didn’t seem to mind the company though. 

“How’s your shoulder holding up?” 

“Oh...” Piers was surprised that Chris had even noticed the he was favoring his right shoulder. “It’ll be fine.” 

Chris nodded slowly, taking a shot. “If you stop tensing up, you wont feel it as much.” 

“Oh yeah? And where exactly did you learn to shoot, Chris?” 

“Air Force.” 

That peaked Piers’ curiosity. “You’re in the Air Force?” 

“Was.” 

“Why?” 

“Why what?” 

“Why did you quit?” 

Chris stopped shooting for a second and looked over at the kid asking too many questions and Piers couldn’t tell if he was annoyed or amused. “You ask a lot of questions, Piers.” 

Piers felt himself flush “I... I do not.” And despite his denial, he stopped with the questions.


	6. Are you Stalking me?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And so they meet again. Things start off a bit awkward.

“I really want to bang you.” 

“What??” 

And with that Piers respectively excused himself from that conversation. As much as he liked both Jake and Sherry, he didn’t want an open window into their sex life. 

That was how he found himself in the school library of all places; to avoid getting pulled into an awkward conversation with Jake and Sherry. It wasn’t a place he ventured into often but today was a special occasion. He’d only just entered the library when his eyes caught a familiar figure a few bookshelves away and Piers all together stopped moving. 

“You’re shitting me.” 

Standing there in the middle of the library was Chris from the Shooting Range, instructing a class of juniors on how to find reference material in books instead of the Internet. 

Chance had Chris glancing in Piers’ direction for a second, and the eighteen year old swore he saw the other man smile – and his stomach did a thing at the suggestion that Chris recognized him outside the range. 

Piers found an empty corner of the library away from all the talking and barely had the chance to get comfortable in his seat before Chris proved that he not only recognized Piers, but was willing to seek him out in a labyrinth of bookshelves in order to talk to him. 

Piers spoke first before Chris could get settled. “You work here.” He commented, stating the obvious. 

Chris took a seat in the chair opposite Piers, nodding his answer despite it being a silly question. “Yeah, and you’re a student here.” 

“Yeah.” 

“Look-" 

“So are you stalking me or something? This is what, the third time we’ve met?” It wasn’t true and Piers knew it. He was just teasing. Claire would have launched into some bullshit about destiny or fate being the reason they kept meeting like this. 

Chris didn’t know what to say to that. “I am, in fact, not actually stalking you,” he reassured after a moment. 

“Well that’s a relief.” 

“I really didn’t know that you were a student here.” Chris added unnecessarily, rubbing the back of his head. 

That made Piers hesitate. “Is that a bad thing?” 

Chris hesitated about just as much as Piers did, like he wasn’t sure exactly how to answer that. “Well. No, its not....” 

“If you’d known that I was still in high school, would you have ignored me?” 

“Piers...” 

Piers caught himself before he could say anything _really_ stupid and quickly waved off the conversation with a laugh. “I mean, that’s what teachers do, right? I tried to say hi to a few of my teachers the other day and they just pretend kids don’t exist out of school.” 

Shit that wasn’t making it any better. Chris was just staring at him now. 

“So...are you going to answer my question from yesterday?” Piers changed the subject. This had been something that he’d been thinking about, anyway, and there was no better time to ask seeing as he’d somehow run the last conversation into the ground. 

“Sorry?” Chris frowned at the sudden change in topic. 

“The Air Force. Why did you leave?” 

That wasn’t what Chris had expected. It made him smile a small, amused smile and Piers got the impression that it wasn’t a smile that many people saw – and his heart skipped at the sight of it. 

What was wrong with him? 

“I left because... I had a problem with the chain of command.” The TA admitted. 

Piers tilted his head curiously. That... didn’t exactly make a lot of sense to him. Jake Muller he could understand having a problem with the chain of command. This guy? Chris didn’t seem the type to challenge authority. 

Piers understood the chain of command better than anyone who wasn’t enlisted already. He lived it at home with a military father. “What do you mean? Something happen?” 

There was that smile again, and Chris chuckled lightly. “Sorry, kid. Not gonna happen.” 

Piers slumped back in his chair – he hadn’t realized that he’d been leaning forward to listen. “You’re not going to tell me.” 

“I can’t just spill all of my secrets, now can I?” 

“Huh.” It was Piers’ turn to frown at the way things had turned. He hadn’t expected Chris to hoard his secrets. He hadn’t expected to _want_ to know this guy’s secrets... “Fine. I’ll accept that answer for now.” 

“For now?” Chris smirked, more than amused at the confidence displayed in the other chair. “You going to force it out of me?” 

“Eventually. You don’t think I can?” 

“I’m not sure what to think right now, but you’re welcome to try.” Chris smiled again, more than amused now. 

“Challenge accepted.” 

There was a moment of almost nervous silence between them; Chris looked down at his hands briefly while Piers toyed with the upturned wave of his own hair. 

“I should get back to work.” 

“Yeah. I should too. Work, I mean. On stuff. Here.” He should really stop talking now. 

“Right. Well I’ll see you around.” 

Piers didn’t say anything, just watched Chris get up and go and it took what seemed like an eternity before his heart settled back to a normal pace. This was bad.


	7. Get to Know Me, Then.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Piers is Sassy.

He didn’t know how they did it, but Helena and Sherry together held some kind of power over Piers and they could get him to do almost anything for them. That was why he was standing in the hallway during his lunch hour, handing out colorful flyers advertising the school dance in a few weeks.  

He’d pinned a few on billboards around the school already but he still had a stack to give out and the girls had specifically told him not to give up until every last flyer was gone. Well, he had successfully handed out two whole flyers since he started this _task_ ten minutes ago. 

It was an agonizing situation and his failure rate was exponentially high, which just made Piers more forceful. He was starting to not give people a choice anymore, literally opening their binders and sliding in a few flyers before sending them on their way. 

What he didn’t expect was for someone to take a flyer right from the pile he was holding onto. When he turned, Piers was surprised to see Chris looking over the paper he’d just taken. 

“I didn’t know you were part of the student council.” 

Piers cringed. “I’m not.” 

Chris’ eyes shifted from the flyer to Piers. “Sorry, I just thought this was part of their job.” 

“It is. I know a couple of them so I’m doing them a favor. Hey, why don’t you help?” Piers volunteered Chris quickly, dropping half his load of flyers into the older man’s arms without giving him a chance to back out. 

It was obvious that Chris hadn’t expected this to happen and he looked around, trying to find an exit. “Help you what? Hand these out?” 

“Well, I sure don’t want you to throw them out.” 

“You owe me one, kid.” Piers couldn’t help but laugh at the look he was given, but at least Chris had resigned himself to doing this with him. 

“Right. As soon as they pay me for it, I’ll send a check your way.” 

“Sassy today, aren’t you.” 

Piers smiled “You bring out the best in me.” He caught up with a couple of students just turning the corner of the hallway. They didn’t look like they wanted a flyer, but Piers gave them each one anyway before letting them go on their way. 

Chris on the other hand, didn’t seem to be having as tough a time as Piers. He waved down a few students when he spotted them and Piers watched him hand out a couple of flyers before the group went on their way. 

“See, you’re a natural.” 

“Pretty sure they just want to get on my good side.” 

Piers made a humming noise in response. He was pretty sure that Chris being a teacher had nothing to do with it and he paused his own flyer-giving to watch Chris interact with a couple of girls that were heading down the hallway. Each girl eagerly took a flyer from the older man. 

Chris sent the girls off and hesitated when he saw the leer Piers was giving him. “What?” 

“If you smiled a little more you could probably get anything out of them.” 

“Them?” 

Piers nodded his head towards the girls who’d just left. “You know. The entire female population of this school.” 

That made Chris laugh. “You think so?” 

“Oh. I _know_ so. I think I’ve heard enough individual confessions centered around you that it wouldn’t surprise me if half the women in town had a special ‘Chris Redfield’ spank bank.” The look Chris gave him made Piers laugh. “You think I’m exaggerating.” The teen grinned. 

“I know you are.” 

“Ye of little faith.” Piers gestured to all of Chris’ person. “What’s not to like? You’re new, fresh meat. You’re fit and good-looking. You have stories. Girls go crazy for that.” 

Chris stared at Piers for a long moment before the teen realized just what he’d implied. Piers coughed into his hand to hide the sudden onslaught of embarrassment. “I meant it like that’s what I’ve _heard_ so it has to have some truth to it right because why else would anyone say that.” 

As amused as he was by this apparent ‘slip up’, Chris chose to ignore it for Piers’ sake. “And how do they know that I’ve got stories to tell?” 

“You’re fresh meat, Chris.” Piers was completely content to just ignore what he’d said earlier. “You automatically have a more interesting life than anyone in town. Lets take your short military career for example.” 

“You’re not giving up on that, are you?” 

Despite how exasperated Chris sounded, Piers shook his head. “I really want to know. People don’t just... quit the air force without a good reason and I have a hard time seeing you as some sort of rebel with a simple grudge against authority.” 

“Kid. I’m not telling you _that_ story.” 

Piers was starting to hate that word. _Kid._ “Why not?” 

Chris fidgeted with the pile of flyers he was holding, staring at Piers for a moment and Piers stared back. 

“It’s personal.” 

“Technically, everything’s personal on some level.” 

Chris frowned. 

“Well its true.” 

“Secondly, I hardly know you. Why would I tell you my life story?” 

Piers subconsciously bit the inside of his lip. “Then get to know me.” 

They stared each other down a moment and Chris was the first to look away. He handed Piers back the flyers he’d been holding. “Look, Piers-“ 

“-Yeah sorry. That was dumb to say. You probably have shit to do. Sorry for distracting you.” Piers gave him a way out and Chris took it. 

When he was gone, Piers sat heavily on the ground, his back against the lockers and ran a hand through his hair in frustration. What was he doing? 


	8. It's all I know

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And they talk. Again. There is a lot of talking happening.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! Just popping in to say hi and that I appreciate what comment's and Kudo's you've left for me! I realize that this whole story/AU is pretty Lack-Luster and can't be compared with great works like FatHobbitLover's "Outfielder" (which I read last night, again, and it still had me in tears so if you haven't read it go read it now.) but all your feedback is pretty important to me. 
> 
> I figure now's as good a time as any to tell you that I DO actually have an ending in mind - this isn't going to go on forever. So get your comments in and let me know how i'm doing. Also, Chris and Piers are 26 and 18 respectively, if I haven't already mentioned that. IDK when its going to come up in a chapter so I figured I'd let you know.

Waiting was not fun, and Piers waited a lot for his mom. She had a career of her own to worry about and sometimes it wasn’t convenient to detour around so she could pick up her kid. Piers was patient though and he found other things to do. Today, he busied himself with a book, trying to finish off the few chapters that had been assigned as reading for Simmons’ English class. 

When Piers spotted Chris leaving for the day he didn’t expected the other man to make his own detour. Hell, Piers had tried to give the T.A. some distance these last few days and he didn’t expect Chris to remember him at all, let alone approach him after hours. He couldn’t deny that his heart skipped with Chris’ acknowledgment. 

“You aren’t usually still here. Your dad not coming to pick you up?” 

“Nah.” Piers shook his head a little. “He got called back to work so I’m just waiting on my mom.”  

Chris took a seat on the bench Piers was sitting on. It was crazy how Piers’ stomach practically started doing summersaults just being this close to him. 

“Your dad is military, right?” 

“Army. Who told you?” 

“No one.” Chris shrugged. “I just noticed it when I saw him at the shooting range. He has the look and attitude. And then there’s the way he pushed you so hard.” 

“Kind of like a drill sergeant?” 

“Yeah. Kind of like that.” Chris smiled. 

Piers gave a nod and a snort, but he kept his eyes focused ahead of him, trying his best not to look at Chris for now. Whatever he was feeling, he was afraid that it would show.  “He was deployed again, don’t know where. Since he’s practically a Colonel now we never know where or why he’s leaving. I guess the army just sends him where they need him.” 

“Sounds tough.” 

“It was at first. I was pretty resentful when I was younger, but it’s been like this forever and there’s no point feeling like that. Its not changing any time soon anyway and I know why he does it. Besides, he teaches me a lot when he’s here and he tries to be a dad. I give him credit for that.” 

Chris shifted on the bench and Piers was acutely aware of every movement he made. “What does your mom do?” Was Chris actually interested in knowing? Or was he just asking questions to ask questions? 

Piers found that he didn’t really care. Chris was talking to him and that was enough. “She’s not enlisted, but she has a civilian job on base. That’s how they met.” 

“No wonder you’re interested in my military background.” Chris laughed a little, which made a smile twitch at Piers’ lips. 

“Its really all I know.” Piers shrugged and spared a glance to the side where Chris was sitting. “Literally, everyone in my family has been doing this; my dad, my grandfather and his father and once I’m finished high school I’ll be doing the same.” 

Chris turned to look at Piers in some amount of surprise at what he’d just said, like he hadn’t expected that. “You’re going to enlist?” 

Piers just nodded. 

“Why?” It was a genuine question, like Chris _wanted_ to know this answer more than any of the others he’d asked. When Piers didn’t answer right away he repeated, _“Why?”_  

 “Why not? It’s a Nivans thing. Every one of us has done it; served our country the best we can. Its just what I’m meant to do – I’ve been working towards this since I could walk.” 

“You say it like you don’t have a choice.” 

“What do you mean?” 

Chris paused like he was thinking carefully about what to say. “Is that what you want?” 

Piers opened his mouth as if he was going to answer, but stopped himself before giving a rushed answer. “What I want? What, you don’t think I’m making an informed decision?” 

“No. I just think you haven’t been given the opportunity to explore other options.” 

“Tch.” Piers glanced in the other direction, away from Chris and his opinions. He wasn’t sure what to think. He wanted to snap at this guy because what did he know about what Piers Nivans should and shouldn’t do? He would have, except there was a moment where Chris shifted on the bench again, and the other man’s knee knocked against his own and instead of moving away, Chris acted like he hadn’t noticed. 

This new touching caused another flutter in Piers’ stomach, and it successfully derailed whatever argument he had. It was absolutely ridiculous how much something so small could affect him. 

“Sorry. It isn’t my place to judge your decisions.” Chris’ knee stayed firm against his. 

Piers shook his head “Don’t worry about it. You have a point. I’ve been so focused on knowing what was expected of me that I never really gave anything else the time of day...” 

“But you still aren’t going to think about any other options.” 

Piers shot a sassy little smirk Chris’ way. “Nope. I’ve got this all figured out, so why change it?” He watched the other man shake his head disapprovingly before suggesting a compromise, “Well... I might be persuaded to consider other options if you told me your reasons for leaving the Air Force.” 

And as if on cue, a taupe SUV pulled up to the front of the school and rolled to a stop nearby. The woman driving pressed on the horn twice like she was trying to get someone’s attention. Piers looked up, “That’s my ride.” 

Chris couldn’t stop himself from grinning. “Too bad. We’ll have to save that story for another time.” 

Talk about bad timing. “Don’t even pretend you were going to tell me.” 

Chris gave the teen a look that pretty much translated to ‘ _I guess you’ll never know,’_ which earned an exasperated sigh in response. 

As much as he didn’t want to get up off the bench, Piers was left with no choice. His mom honked again and as soon as he was standing Piers found himself missing that simple little knee touch. He touched people all the time, so why was this so different? 

“I’ll see you around.”  Piers only hesitated a fraction of a second, waving to Chris as nonchalantly as possible before heading for the SUV.

Shit. He was really falling for this guy, wasn’t he?


	9. Copy that, Captain.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Claire notices all things, especially when it comes to her brother.  
> Bonus Chris! Chapter written by the other half of RedfieldandNivans.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was written by the other half of RedfieldandNivans, so enjoy the change.   
> I just find that my other half writes Chris better than I do so it fit to have this chapter written by my very own Chris ( Who also does all my editing. God I would be lost without that. )

Claire Redfield stared in surprise at the sizzling plate of bacon and eggs placed before her on the table. She said nothing as her brother placed two perfectly buttered slices of toast down beside the eggs and turned back to stirring his coffee on the counter. Her brother never made breakfast for her. He didn’t eat bacon and he certainly didn’t butter her toast for her if he did pop a few slices in. And here he was, practically cooking up a buffet just for her alongside his morning coffee. She poked at the bacon with her fork. Still soft. Exactly the way she liked it.

Still blinking in confusion, she watched him fidget at the counter with a packet of sweetner until she couldn’t take it anymore. “Okay, what’s going on with you?” 

Startled by her abrupt outburst from the table, Chris tore the tiny packet apart sending sugar substitute all over himself. “What? Nothing.” Now he had to find the broom. 

“You made me breakfast.” Claire turned in her chair as he moved passed her to find the broom and dustpan in the hall closet. 

“Your skills of observation are second to none.” 

“The only time you ever made breakfast before I went to school was when you were together with Jill.” 

“You have a point somewhere in there?” His voice took on a slightly agitated tone as he cleaned the powdered sugar from the floor. Claire had always been too smart for her own good. 

“So who is it?” 

Chris paused at the question, “Eat your food before it gets cold and you make us both late.” 

Claire chomped on her bacon, still grinning. Chris ignored that grin by avoiding eye contact as he put the broom away again. He hid behind his mug as he took a big sip of his coffee. The same coffee he’d failed to sweeten. 

“Don’t think I haven’t noticed how chipper you’ve been lately.” She pressed casually, piling her egg atop a piece of toast and taking a big bite. Chris made a face and reached for another packet of sweetner. 

“Did you and Jill get back together?” 

“No.” 

“You can’t hide these things from me, Chris. I know you.” 

“Give it a rest, okay? If there was something to tell you, I’d tell you.” 

“Promise?” 

Chris stirred his coffee for the second time and sat down at the table across from her with it. “ _Eat_.” 

Claire sighed in exasperation but obediently shoveled down her plate of food without another question. Chris chuckled at the way she ate. It was true he hadn’t made her a descent breakfast in a long time. He just happened to be in the mood to make it up to her. He hadn’t exactly been the best big brother since quitting the force, and then his breakup had left him distant and detached. Then there was this new job at the school… Things were just starting to look up. That was all. 

“Hey.” 

Chris looked up from his mug, “Hmm?” 

“I like when you’re happy.” She said it between chews, her cheeks all cute and chubby with bread and egg. Chris smirked at the mess of ketchup dripping down the side of her mouth. “Me too, kiddo.” 

“I’m just going to say: Whatever it is making you feel better these days, hang onto it.” 

Chris smiled to himself, his thoughts going back to that day at the shooting range when he’d first met the sharp shooter named Piers. Chris had made a point of hitting on the guy, thinking he was closer to his own age. When Piers hadn’t responded in kind, Chris assumed he simply wasn’t interested in him the same way. It hadn’t been until they met again in the school library that Chris realized just how young Piers really was. A seven-year difference was a big gap in maturity and mindset and Chris found himself looking the other way on the grounds that he wasn’t interested in cradle robbing. Despite his attempts to look the other way, Chris was forever running into Piers, keeping the handsome young student top-of-mind whether he wanted him there or not. It didn’t help that Piers was beginning to reciprocate his attraction…. 

People were bound to notice just how often they ran into each other at the school and Chris was terrible at hiding when he was attracted to someone. Hell, Claire had already begun to notice a change in his behavior! Being an open book was going to get him into trouble if he wasn’t careful. 

“Are you _daydreaming?_ ” 

Claire’s voice snapped him from his thoughts. She stared at him expectantly and he cleared his throat, standing to dump the rest of his coffee in the sink. “C’mon, we’re going to be late.” 

Claire just grinned a knowing grin in his direction. “Copy that, _Captain_.” she giggled. Yes, her brother had it bad for someone and she was going to make it her personal mission to find out who was making her big brother so happy.


	10. Cosmopolitan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Piers runs into Chris and Claire when he least expected it, and he deals.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is so much longer than I intended it to be! I’m really sorry for the length but I didn’t want to split it up into two chapters so treat it like an extra bonus. 
> 
> I’m not sorry for this chapter though. I have such a boner for this head-canon that Piers is a country boy at heart who just hides his roots really well – you have no idea how much I fucking love this. I also adore my adaptation of his mother. I have this huge Home-Life Head Canon that I just can’t express in this fic! It’s really killing me. I want to share it

It was a shitty Saturday, dark clouds and rain. Not the best weather for a weekend get together, but good enough for house chores. House chores at the Nivans house were extensive – it was normal to have a lot of things to do when your parents had a hobby farm. It was a lot of work, what with feeding and caring for the dogs, chickens and horses, especially when you were working at it by yourself. 

Piers’ mother was usually the one working around the ranch, but she had somewhere to be today, which left all the work to Piers. He didn’t mind. It wasn’t like he hadn’t done this before anyway, and he liked spending time with his horse. 

Cosmo was a pretty girl: chocolate brown with a blond mane. Dainty and sassy and everything Piers ever wanted in a girl and she had no quarrel with riding out in the rain. Taking the mare for a quick jaunt down the road was exactly what Piers intended to do after he was done mucking about in the stables and she was as excitable as ever. He really hadn’t had much time for her the last few weeks with all the homework and with his dad being home for those few days earlier in the week. 

He took to the back roads, not worried that Cosmo would spook if a car drove by, but because Piers preferred a quieter ride. Though considering the town had less than 3000 residents every road could have been considered a back road.   They kept a slow pace, enjoying how cool the rain was, at least until Piers caught the sound of his name practically being yelled out a truck window. 

He was surprised to see anyone out right now- driving or otherwise- but seeing a chipper redhead hanging halfway out of a truck window waving at him wasn’t a bad surprise. She looked overjoyed and as the truck pulled to a stop Piers shot her a cheeky grin. 

“Hey Claire.” 

“Piers! How come you never told me you had a horse?!” 

He laughed. “You never asked.” And whatever cheeky attitude he had died quickly when Claire shifted in the passenger seat and Piers caught a glimpse of the driver. 

Chris was leaning on the steering wheel watching him with a smile and suddenly Piers was aware of all of the things wrong with himself at this very moment. 

His hair, his clothes – all of it wasn’t like normal. He was wearing grungy grass-stained jeans and an oversized, grey flannel shirt that was soaked through and his hair was flat and dripping. Piers had a hand in his bangs instantly, trying to fluff up his usual hair tuff before Chris noticed just how sloppy he looked right now. Shit. He really hadn’t expected to run into anyone today - least of all Chris Redfield. 

He only noticed that Claire had left the truck when Cosmo sidestepped the girl’s advances and he had to rein her in a little. He couldn’t tell exactly but Claire looked as if she was completely enamored by the dark horse. 

“Pleeaassee Piers, you have to take me for a ride!” 

Chris was leaning over towards the passenger side window now, “Its raining, Claire.” 

Piers echoed his concern, “You sure about that? It’s a big animal...” 

Ignoring the fact that Piers was already out riding in the rain, both were valid reasons for the enthusiastic redhead to not hop on the horse behind him. 

Claire seemed to know these facts already and she waved off both Piers and her brother. “Please?” She gave her best pouty face, which just made Piers fidget in his saddle uncomfortably. Claire must have been taking lessons from Sherry on how to manipulate people with a look. It was working. 

Cosmo twitched her ears back, as if she was waiting on a response from Piers, too, and he gave her a reassuring pat on the neck. 

After glancing towards the truck and Chris, Piers shrugged and extended his free hand to help the redhead up into Cosmo’s back, and although Claire had never done this before she was pretty good at guessing what to do. 

Piers didn’t expect her to hug his back that tight. 

“Where are you going?” Chris called after them. 

With Claire clinging to his back way tighter than she needed to, Piers tried to point back down the road he’d just come from. “Turn left when you get to Hartford Road and keep going until you hit Fulton. Turn left and my house is the first you’ll see.” 

He watched Chris nod at the directions and the truck started to pull away. Piers watched the truck get smaller the further it went, wondering absently if giving Chris his address was such a good idea. 

Claire squeezed tighter, pulling him out of whatever daydream Piers was having. “Alright, just hold on. You need to move with her when she moves.”

 “Yeah I got it! Lets go!” 

Famous last words. 

o0o0o 

By the time the house came into view it had started pouring rain and Claire was begging to get off the horse. Piers was in a fit, laughing at her expense because he had _warned_ her. Cosmo was at full trot, making quick work of the driveway as Claire’s litany of “ _Please stop the horse, Piers! Oh my god make it stop I can’t take this anymore!_ ” continued. 

Claire had not taken Piers’ advice to move with the horse and her rhythm was off, which meant it probably felt like her insides were all over the place right now. Piers was amused. 

“ **Piers**!” 

He winced at that, pulling Cosmo to a stop just as his mother practically stormed down the porch steps over to his side. She was instantly soaked but that didn’t phase her. She knew exactly what Piers was doing and she did not seem impressed with his game. 

“You do _not_ trot with beginners! Come here, dear. That’s it – I’ve got you honey just lift your leg like that. Good girl.” 

Claire dropped off the side of Cosmo’s back in obvious pain and fell straight into Piers’ mother’s arms. The older woman held her up until Claire could stand on her shaky legs. “Honestly, _Piers_! The poor girl will be sore for days! Come on sweetie lets get you in the house. I wasn’t expecting company but we have lemonade.” 

Piers couldn’t hide his amused smirk as he hopped skillfully off Cosmo – a smirk that died quickly when he noticed that Chris had come out of the house as well and was standing only a few paces away. Piers brought a hand up to his hair again to try and flip his bangs up or do _something_ with them. “Sorry.” 

Chris gave a short laugh. “Why are you sorry? She asked for it.” 

Piers’ smile came back as soon as it registered that Chris wasn’t mad. “Yeah, she did.” His grip on Cosmo’s reins tightened. 

“So, what are you doing with her?” 

“Her?” 

Chris motioned with a hand towards the horse just as the mare bonked her nose against Piers’ head affectionately. 

Right. Horse. “Oh. I have to take her back. To her stall.” He used his free hand to push Cosmo’s nose out of his face before starting to lead her back to the barn. 

Chris followed and Piers tried to ignore the very obvious fact that there was rain, they were both wet, Chris was in a white shirt and that the guy was ridiculously ripped... Wet jeans and the world’s most awkward boner were not a good mix. His teenage hormones needed to settle the fuck down right now. 

The damned horse seemed to notice that her boy was distracted, because she was being a pest – slobbering in Piers’ ear and giving him uncalled for shoves – all of which irritated Piers and made Chris laugh. 

Chris didn’t stray far once they were in the barn, looking over the wall of tack while Piers worked on peeling the saddle off of the mare’s back. 

“What’s her name?” 

“Cosmopolitan. Cosmo for short.” Chris looked at him. Piers flushed. “Its... it’s a theme okay. Dad named them.” 

“Them?” 

Piers had the saddle in his arms now but instead of putting it away, he opted to watch as Chris walked down the isle between the stalls. Brown noses poked their way out of two of the stalls to check out the stranger and Piers heard a few curious wickers. 

“Shirley Temple. Tequila Sunrise. And that’s –“ Piers winced when Chris stepped by the last stall and a big black head craned out of it: curly black mane and brown eyes staring Chris down. “-Jack Daniels. Don’t-“ Piers didn’t have time to warn Chris before the guy was all hands over Jack’s black nose. “Be careful. He’s a jerk and he’ll bite.” 

Only Jack didn’t bite. Chris rubbed up the horse’s nose and gave him a pat on the cheek and Jack stood quietly and took the affection as it was given. Piers couldn’t help but smile at that while Cosmo huffed in his flattened hair. 

“You know, they say that you can tell a lot about a person by how animals react to them.” 

Chris looked over towards Piers and only then did Piers realize that he’d been staring this entire time. He coughed and turned away from Chris and his see-through tshirt completely, thankful that he was still holding the saddle in both arms. It was the perfect distraction. Fuck, he was standing around like some lovesick puppy. Snap out of it! 

“There’s a big red brush over there can you grab it for me?” Piers changed the subject easily and didn’t acknowledge Chris again until the guy was back on this side of the barn with the brush in hand and even then the teen busied himself with straightening out the saddle on it’s peg on the wall before turning to remove the bit and bridle from Cosmo. 

Piers didn’t need to touch his horse to know that she was annoyed – her ears flicked back and her hooves scratched against the floor. He just didn’t know what was bothering her until he looked back to Chris standing by her side, brush in hand. 

“Hey-“ Piers winced at what he was seeing and moved instinctively to correct him. He didn’t grab the brush from him. Instead, he grabbed Chris’ hand and pulled the brush in the right direction. “You have to brush _with_ the hair. She gets cranky otherwise.” Piers brushed with him for another few strokes before he noticed that Chris was watching him instead of what he was making him do with his hand. 

And _then_ he noticed _where_ his hand was and Piers had never pulled away from anything so fast in his life. 

Chris gave an amused laugh, reaching for Piers’ retreating hand before it got too far away. “Here.” He pressed the kids palm against the brush and used his own hand to guide the brush across the horse’s dark coat. “You mean like this?” 

Piers nodded, though he wasn’t paying attention to how Chris was brushing. He was acutely aware of how fast his heart was racing and of how little space was actually between them. This was not helping _things_. 

There was nothing overtly sexual about the action; it was sensual in its own way – the feeling of Chris’ warm palm against the back of his hand, the curl of his fingers and the slow move of the brush combined with the small distance that separated them. 

“Guys we brought some drinks!” 

Chris stepped back as soon as they heard Claire’s voice and Piers fumbled with the brush. Sure enough Claire and his mom were in the barn moments later and piers hid his face against Cosmo’s side. It couldn’t be normal to be this attracted to someone, could it? 

The Redfield’s couldn’t stay long and Piers was happy to see them go if only because he couldn’t deal with Chris’ proximity right now. As soon as they were gone, Piers withdrew from any remaining chores in favor of a really cold shower.


	11. Flustered

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter is so late. Been hella busy and it took a while to get it right. Thanks for sticking to it for so long <3
> 
> Piers tries to talk himself out of these... feelings.

It was still raining. 

The only reprieve Piers had on his way home was to duck into the random gas bar that signaled the halfway mark to his house from the school. 

He really hated living so far out of town, especially on days like today when he’d missed the bus _and_ couldn’t get a ride. 

“Is that it?” 

“Yeah.” 

“$2.44 then.” 

He felt obligated to buy something, even though he really didn’t have the money for it. At least it was an excuse to hang out inside for a few minutes and hope the rain let up. 

It didn’t. 

If anything, it looked like it had started to rain harder.   

Piers took a drink of the soda he’d bought, stuffed it into his soaking wet backpack and went for the door – just as someone else was rushing inside to escape the weather. 

“Sorry-“ 

“-Sorry.” 

Piers blinked. “Chris? What’re you doing here?” 

The guy stopped just inside the store, not expecting to hear his name. “Gas?” 

That was a stupid question. “Right.” Piers fidgeted. 

Chris didn’t hesitate to reach out and flip up some of Piers’ dripping bangs.  “You’re soaked. How come you’re walking in this?”   

“Well, obviously because I want to.” Piers ducked away from Chris’ hand. “Mom’s busy and I had to stay late so I missed the bus. Why? You offering up a ride?” 

“Maybe.” 

“What, really?” Piers hadn’t expected that. “I mean I could just walk since I’m already soaked. It really can’t get much worse than this.” 

Chris laughed. “Do you want a ride or not, Nivans?” 

Piers’ stomach fluttered. “Yeah, thanks.” He wasn’t going to pass up a free ride, especially not one from Chris Redfield. 

Chris paid for his gas and Piers waited, trying to calm his nerves that were acting up for no reason. 

It was distracting. He didn’t want this, right? Ugh, it was annoying! that’s exactly what it was. Piers didn’t like these... _feelings_ that sparked whenever this guy was around.  

Christ. Piers had too much on his plate already, what with school expectations, home expectations and the shit he had to decide on for post secondary. There was no room in his life for some guy that made his heart race with just a look. He needed to get that through his head. 

“What?” 

“Huh?” Piers blinked. 

Chris stood a couple paces away, a curious arch to his brow. “You’re staring.” 

“I am?” He waved it off, like Chris was just seeing things. “Come on. Not everything revolves around you, Chris. Don’t flatter yourself.” 

“Oh yeah?” Chris shoved him out the door and into the downpour. “Here I am, doing you a favor and you’re _still_ sassy.” 

“Do you want my eternal gratitude? I already said –“ 

“Get in the truck, Piers.” 

And he did. 

Chris hadn’t even started the truck yet and Piers was already antsy. His foot tapped against the floor and his knees bounced. He felt nervous for no reason at all. No reason besides being alone with Chris Redfield, which was something that happened too often for him to be nervous about.  

Piers twisted the seatbelt in his hands. 

Stupid Piers. Forget it already. He didn’t have time for dumb school-girl crushes! He had to get over this and concentrate on what really mattered. 

His pep-talk didn’t quell the sporadic flutter of his nerves. 

“Hey. Are you alright?” 

Shit. “Yeah. Yeah why?” Piers shrugged. “You miss my voice already or something?” It was easy to play everything off like this. 

Chris just smiled and Piers wished he wouldn’t do that. The guy didn’t smile often and he looked really good when he did. 

Damnit Piers, stop that! 

“So.” 

“So.” 

Piers stared out the passenger side window, letting the conversation die. There were a hundred things he wanted to ask and say but that would just fuel this stupid infatuation of his. 

Think of school. Think of that college his dad wanted him to apply too. Think of anything _but_ Chris Redfield. 

That was pretty hard to do, considering the guy was sitting next to him. _Uuugh..._  

Piers didn’t expect to get hit in the face with a bundle of cloth. He didn’t expect to unravel it and find that it was a navy blue sweater, either. 

Chris didn’t make eye contact when the eighteen year old looked at him. 

“You’re probably cold.” Was the only explanation he got. 

Piers smiled and this time he didn’t mind so much when his heart fluttered.


	12. His Type

“I really wish you could understand this, Piers.” 

“Try explaining it to me, then.” 

“Aaah! I can’t! Its impossible!” 

Piers sighed, zipping up his bag after stuffing the last of his books inside. “Then you’re on your own, Claire.” 

She pouted. She always pouted and he really hated it because he caved every single time she made that face. 

“Its just that I know, as his sister, that I’m missing something here but I just can’t put my finger on it.” 

“Well. Did you ever think that he was telling the truth?” 

“Whaaat??” Claire practically shrieked, earning curious glances from anyone left in the hallway of the school. “No way! I _know_ my brother! He just doesn’t get like this without a reason.” 

Piers slid his bag over his shoulder and started walking and Claire followed barely a step behind him. 

“Maybe he got back with an ex.” 

“I like Jill and all, but I’m _pretty_ sure he’d tell me if they were dating again. Besides, he already said no to that.” 

“ _Claire_.” Piers looked pointedly at her, not amused at all because she was giving him hope that he really didn’t need right now. If Chris was suffering from positive mood changes since they’d started talking then... maybe... No, don’t even go there, Piers. 

 “If you’re not going to accept my answers then why are we still talking about this? Leave him alone. He obviously doesn’t want to talk about it yet.” 

She pouted, again, and he caved to her will, again. So much for that subject change... 

“Fine. Maybe there’s something going on with Sheva? They started here around the same time, right? I think I’ve seen them together a couple of times.” 

She laughed - howled was more like it. “No way! I mean, I can see them as friends but Miss Alomar isn’t his type.” 

Piers just shrugged. “I don’t know then. Maybe he met someone online. Maybe he’s just happy about life or something. Maybe he just really loves his little sister and realized what an ass he’s been to you and just wants to make it up? _I don’t know_ , Claire! I’m an only child.” 

Claire made a face, but she couldn’t deny that he wasn’t being very helpful. “Being an only child must really suck.” 

“Why do you say that?” Piers reached his locker and fumbled with the lock, only half paying attention to what the fiery red head was saying. 

He was really spending too much time with Claire these days. 

She shrugged. “No drama, I guess.” 

“Trust me when I say that I get enough drama from you to last me a life time, I don’t need my own.” It was true. She always had some problem or another that she needed to share with everyone. Sherry and Helena were the same way though. There was enough drama between them to drown a whale.  

“Yeah, but... You don’t have that person who’s always there to help you through things, or to tell you that you’re being dumb. Siblings do all that and it kind of really sucks, but at the same time it’s pretty awesome to know that someone’s got your back no matter what.” 

“Why do you need to know so bad, anyway?” 

“Well...” Claire shrugged a little “I don’t know. I feel like it’s my job as his sister to know these things. Its like, I _should_ know, and because I don’t I feel like maybe I’m not trying hard enough.” 

Piers pulled open his locker and started shifting his things from his backpack to the open locker and vice versa. “Well. I don’t know. Maybe there really is nothing. Maybe he’s just not ready to tell you because he doesn’t know himself.” 

That was touching far too close to home. 

“Anyway. Don’t worry about it too much.” 

 She nodded. “You make a good point, Nivans~” 

He couldn’t help but laugh lightly at that. “Yeah, well...” He zipped up his bag again after depositing everything he didn’t need any more and pulled his sweater from the locker before closing it. 

Claire was on him in a second 

“ _Oooh!!”_

He flinched, like he’d done something wrong. “What?” 

She had her grabby little hands on the sweater before he realized it and it made all too much sense as to why. He fumbled with the navy colored garment but she had it already. 

“Is this-??” 

“Is... Is this what? It’s a sweater, give it-“ 

Crap. Craaap! Claire no why do you do this to him? You weren’t supposed to be this perceptive! Please just think that its new or something and don’t say- 

“Is this _Chris’_ sweater??” 

Shit. Fuck. 

Piers opened his mouth as if to say something and shut it quickly. He repeated this process a few more times before trying to grab the sweater back roughly, but she held onto it tightly. “What. No.” 

He didn’t sound confident at all and Claire saw right through it. 

She covered her mouth with both hands to hide her surprise; her eyes were wide with realization. “ _Piers_!” 

“I was just – bringing it back, okay?? I borrowed it because of all the rain yesterday and-“ 

“ **Piers**!” 

“Claire don’t you dare think up some crazy story about this!” 

Piers watched her unravel the sweater to get a better look at it and he fidgeted on the spot because fuck why did he not think to grab a different sweater this morning? 

She didn’t need to look it over much to know that yes, it did indeed belong to her brother, and the answer to her question from earlier was standing right in front of her in the form of her friend. She tossed the sweater back to him, not able to hide her knowing grin. 

“Piers, are you serious?” 

He kept his mouth shut and avoided eye contact because he knew that she could see right through him and he didn’t want to see that recognition in her eyes. He was trying hard enough to deny this whole thing as it was, and didn’t need her reinforcing it. 

“That’s...” 

“What.” 

“Adorable.” 

“Tch.” Piers rolled his eyes, grabbing for his bag to hide the flush of his cheeks. “Don’t go making up stories, alright? I said it was nothing and I mean it.” 

“Uh huh.” She was still smiling, and still following him as he walked away towards the front of the school. “I never thought about it before...” 

“Thought of what?” 

“How you are _exactly_ his type.” 

“Claire I said it was _nothing_!”

 She just smiled.


	13. Why would you even say that?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There is a dance and things are just not going as planned.
> 
> This chapter is very long, but I haven't updated in a while so thats probably a good thing. Sorry its been a while since the last update! This chapter just killed me and idk why.  
> But! Progression is soon.  
> Enjoy~

“That’s a cute tie, Muller.”

“Fuck you, Nivans.”

“Boys!” Sherry’s voice cut through their arguing. “Please not tonight.”

Jake shut his mouth and glared at Piers and he just grinned. He was really starting to love how bad Jake had it for Sherry Birkin; she had the guy wrapped around her finger so tight, he didn’t even know it.

Sherry herself was in an exceptionally good mood tonight – that school dance that she and Helena had been planning was in full swing now. Streamers, balloons and cardboard cutouts stuck to the wall had the gym looking like an underwater paradise. Sort of. Piers was still having a hard time understanding why they’d gone with the ‘Under the Sea’ suggestion he’d given them. He’d been clearly joking when he’d said it...

It was tacky: Cut-out blue and white fish dotted the walls, swimming between green cardboard squiggles that Piers could only assume were supposed to be seaweed. Balloons hung in clumps across the gym and he figured they were supposed to be air bubbles, which was cute to some degree. Then there were the blue and white streamers that littered the ceiling in spirals. He had no explanation for those. Piers didn’t have the heart to actually say it was tacky though, because an upset Sherry meant an angry Jake and Piers didn’t want to deal with either right now.

“Nivans.”

Piers hummed in response to his surname.

“Why are you still here.” It wasn’t a question.

Piers looked up at Jake, and just smiled. “I just really like your face, Muller.” He had no intention of leaving. Sherry and Helena were chatting like a pair of budgies and it was really amusing to watch. Besides – if he left this group, he’d be free game for the girls he was avoiding; namely Claire and Deborah for various reasons.

He also didn’t want to give Jake the opportunity to have Sherry all to himself. As cute as they were together Piers just liked getting in Muller’s way.

“Seriously. Don’t you have any friends?”

That just made him laugh. “Sure I do, but none of them are as fun to harass as you are.”

Jake just rolled his eyes.

Helena waved and Piers looked up in time to see the girls flagging down Claire, and that was his cue to leave. Jake was no idiot though, and before Piers could take off Muller pulled him back down onto the bleachers by the arm.

“Woah, you’re leaving already? Here I was just getting used to that adorable face of yours.”

“Jerk.”

It was Jake’s turn to smirk.

Claire made her way over, complimented both Helena and Sherry on how the gym looked before parking her butt right next to Piers.

He fidgeted and she noticed.

“Wow hey, I really gotta head ou-“ Claire cut him off.

“Come on Piers, let’s dance!”

She didn’t give him a choice, just pulled him up and away from everyone until she had him trapped on the dance floor with no where to run.

“Claire...” Despite his protests he didn’t actually fight her. There wasn’t a point. When a Redfield wanted something they got it. Claire was almost as stubborn as he was.

“I just want to talk.” She moved him around as she spoke, putting his hands where they needed to be for them to actually dance together and Piers just stood there and waited as she continued, “You’ve been avoiding me.”

He sighed but didn’t move and she prodded him painfully in the ribs at his lack of response. “I said-“

Piers grabbed her by the hands quickly before she could take a stab at his ribs again, pulling the redhead into the dance steps that seemed appropriate for whatever song was playing. “I heard you! You have me now, so what do you want?”

She followed his steps – tripping once or twice over her own toes. Claire was not used to following someone else. She was a leader and doing the opposite seemed to fluster her.

“I just... wanted to know what you plan to do.” Claire was concentrating more on where she was putting her feet and less on the conversation.

“Do. Do what? What plan?”

“You know.” She stepped once and tried to turn but Piers pulled her the other way and she frowned. She was trying to take over this dance and he wasn’t letting her and it was starting to irritate her. “Your plan with my brother.”

Piers spun her when she wasn’t expecting it and she pulled away completely and glared at him. “ **Piers**. Stop distracting me! I’m totally serious here!”

“I said it was nothing Claire and I meant it. _Nothing_.”

“Why not??” Her voice was getting higher in octave the more frustrated she got and people were starting to look at them. He took a few steps towards her and shushed her with a finger to her lips. Claire glared at him and reiterated what she had said in a quieter voice. “Why not?”

“Because I have a life, Claire. I work hard at school, I work double hard at home, and there are a shit ton of expectations on me for post secondary. I don’t have time for whatever this is. It’s a distraction I don’t need.”

Claire glared at him and her fingers found that tender spot in his ribs again.

“Ow-! Claire!”

“You’re a selfish idiot, Piers!”

He rubbed at his side and gave her a pitiful look, like he hadn’t deserved her abuse. “Why??”

“Because you are! It’s all about you, Piers, isn’t it? You can’t afford it. You don’t want it. You’re done. What about everyone else? Huh?”

He didn’t quite understand what she was getting at and the look that crossed his face said it clearly.

Claire rolled her eyes. “I haven’t seen Chris in a good mood since he broke up with Jill a couple months ago. He’s been as depressed and irritable as a bear and I never see him when we’re home because he closes his office door and hibernates. I’d forget what he looked like if I didn’t see him at school every day and you know what? Monday morning I woke up to him making breakfast. For me. Suddenly, he’s the happiest person I’ve ever seen and he won’t tell me why, but that’s okay because I like him like this. I love my brother more than anything and knowing that you’re the one making him happy, and hearing you say that you just don’t have time for him. That hurts, Piers. Its not just about _you_ , its about _him_ , too.”

Piers didn’t now what to say to that. “Claire...” Hearing her put all of that into words put things in a new perspective for him, for better or for worse. He wasn’t sure how to react just yet, but just knowing that Chris was acting different because of him... well... that made him feel... good. He felt it flutter in his heart. Piers sighed and combed a hand through his hair.

“Piers...” Claire hesitated a moment before averting her gaze. “Just think about it, okay?”

He nodded and seeing as that was all she wanted from him, Claire left him standing there.

He wasn’t alone for very long. Deborah had squeezed through the crowd of people and made her way quickly towards him, tugging on Piers’ arm until he gave in to her demand for a dance. It was a good distraction for him though; gave him time to think about what he’d just heard.

Pulling Deborah around the gym was actually a little more fun than he had thought. Unlike Claire, Deborah was more than happy to let Piers lead. He didn’t have to fight her every step of the way. She was good company too and they chatted about nothing while they stepped around the dance floor and she actually made him laugh once or twice. Piers dipped her suddenly and Deborah squeaked, laughing, and Piers grinned at having surprised her successfully.

Then he looked up. His hazel eyes locked with a pair of familiar brown ones across the room.

Deborah tugged at his neck still giggling and he pulled her up, tearing his eyes away from Chris’ gaze. He smiled at Deb and guided her back towards the rest of their crew. He couldn’t help but glance back over his shoulder once to check if he could still see the T.A. through the crowd.

He could, and the guy was still watching him as he spoke with Ms. Alomar near the doors. That was a good sign, right?

Chris was only there as a chaperone; one of a handful of faculty members that had to give up their night for this just to make sure no one broke any rules. Piers thought it was probably boring as hell for them.

The idea that Chris had picked him out in a crowd did a number of things to Piers and he couldn’t name half of the things he was feeling. How long had Chris been watching him?

Piers was pulled along and he averted his attention back to where he was going.

The things that Claire had said about her brother a few minutes ago came back to him and Piers snorted quietly to himself. It was hard to deny that he liked the guy, teacher or not, and knowing that Claire thought that Chris felt something too....

Claire was standing between a chattering Sherry and Jake with a themed cupcake in her hands. Her toothy grin was aimed directly at him. She knew her older brother would be here tonight. Piers smiled back, despite himself.

 Jake frowned, looking between the two. “What are you grinning for?”

Claire shook her head. Piers answered with a short, “Nothing.”

 “Fuck. You two are dating, aren’t you.”

“ _What_??” Claire’s shriek of disbelief could be heard over the music. “No we’re not!”

Piers scoffed at the suggestion, “Wow, Muller, that has to be the dumbest thing you’ve said all night.”

Denial did nothing for their cause. Jake’s grin widened, “Oh yeah, you’re totally banging.”

Sherry and Helena’s conversation came to a quick halt at that. “Wait, _what?_ ”

Claire tried to silence the taller teen before he could repeat himself but Jake squirmed away from her hands, “Piers and Claire are seeing each other.”

“ _What_!?” Deborah’ shriek cut out everyone else’s comments, “And you didn’t TELL ME?!” She grabbed her sister’s shoulders and shook her like this was the most important information that could be held from her ever.

“If you _listened_ to me, I just told you that we are NOT dating.” Piers was getting frustrated now. Mostly because Jake had just started a fire that he couldn’t seem to put out. Why didn’t anyone ever listen.

As if to add insult to injury, Piers noticed too late that Mr. Redfield and Ms. Alomar were on their way over from across the dance floor to check up on the rambunctious group of teenagers.

“What’s got you all so excited?” Chris inquired, plastic cup of punch in hand.

Before Piers or Claire could get a word in, Sherry announced the news: “We just found out that your sister and Piers have been secretly seeing each other. Did you know about this?”

“No, “Chris blinked down at her, surprise clear on his features, “No I did not.” Piers couldn’t help but notice how the T.A. avoided looking directly at him and instead focused on Claire. “But I’m sure she was just about to tell me.” Chris didn’t acknowledge Piers what-so-ever and he and Ms. Alomar left them to it after a brief “We’ll talk later” to his sister who now looked like a deer caught in headlights.

Great. Just great. Chris was never going to look at him again after this. The guy probably thought that Piers was just trying to go after Claire this whole time and that Chris was just a convenient way of getting the girl to like him. Uugh... fuck why did this shit always happen to him?

Claire looked to her friend, “I’m so sorry, Piers!”

“Its alright.” Piers shrugged like this wasn’t devastating at all. “Don’t worry about it, my love life is just doomed to fail...”

“Aw Piers! Don’t be so dramatic, we can fix this!” Claire was quick to start fussing over him, only to have Jake scoff at the entire display unfolding in front of him.

“Give it a rest. We don’t need to see you babying your girlfriend, Claire.”

Piers was _not_ in the mood for Jake right now. “ _What did you say_?”

Of course Jake smirked. Getting a rise out of Piers was the best part of this whole thing. “You heard me.”

“Guys, don’t-!“ Claire knew that this was escalating far too quickly but her words fell on deaf ears. Sherry pulled her away to let the show of testosterone play out.

“I dare you to say that again.” Piers growled, shoving into the taller teen.

Jake shoved back, jumping at the challenge. “What, that you’re the girl in this-?” He didn’t get to say much more than that. Piers was on top of him in an instant. He had a short fuse when it came to Jake Muller, a fuse that burned so quickly that even Helena couldn’t separate the two in time.

After an embarrassingly brief tussle that was put to a quick end by Chris and the other teachers, Jake and Piers were barred from the rest of the school dance. They said nothing to each other as they left, each of them taking a different path home. Neither of them wanted to call their parents for a ride.

Piers didn’t get far before a familiar deep voice stopped him from behind. “Hey.”

He didn’t turn to face the T.A.. He wasn’t in the mood for a lecture and he was pretty sure that Jake had left him with a black eye – or at least what felt like one. Chris didn’t need to see that.

“ _Hey.”_ Chris was insistent though.

“What.” Piers sighed, still refusing to look at Chris as he caught up to the teen in the dim light of the sidewalk.

“Get in the truck. I’ll drive you home.”

“I’m fine.”

“Piers, your house is a few miles away. Let me give you a ride.” Chris was determined.

Piers sighed and followed him back towards the parking lot and after hesitating for a fraction of a second, Piers climbed into the passenger seat. He wasn’t sure what to expect from this, considering how the night had gone so far. It was a quiet ride; the radio was barely audible and neither of the two said a word to each other. Piers stared out the side window thoughtfully, feeling the sting of what had to be his subtly split lip.

After a while, Chris was first to speak up. “You okay?”

Piers wasn’t sure how he meant that. Physically okay or mentally okay? Sure, Piers wasn’t his normal chatty self, but considering what had just happened he had a right to be quiet. “Sure. ‘M fine.”

Chris took that as a hint to forgo the questions.

It was another couple of minutes before either of them said anything. Piers kept his eyes focused out the window as he spoke. “I’m not dating your sister.” It might not have been the conversation he wanted to have, but it really did need to be reiterated after the entire fuck up that had just happened.

What Piers didn’t expect was for Chris to huff a short laugh. “I know.”

He knew?

Piers hadn’t been expecting that and turned to face the driver curiously. Chris wore an amused smirk, eyes focused on the road. He didn’t relent any other information.

“Oh you know, huh?” Piers sighed, shaking his head. He’d been distressed for no reason then. Great.

Silence consumed the truck again, but this time it was a bit more comfortable. They drove another mile before Piers piped up again. “So...what are you doing this weekend?”

Chris glanced away from the road for a second, as though he was surprised by the suggestion that his young companion might want to spend more time with him after hours. “Oh no you don’t. Not a chance, kid.”

Piers just grinned.


	14. Touching

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Its the weekend! What better to do than harass that T.A that you like?
> 
> This chapter is a collaboration between both parts of RedfieldandNivans, because it was better that way.

Piers knocked on the door firmly. It had to have been eleven in the morning; he’d rushed through his chores for the day so that he could be right where he was standing at this moment. It wasn’t until _after_ he’d knocked that he realized he didn’t really have a plan beyond the front door.

And then the door opened. And there stood Chris Redfield, shirtless and a little scruffy, squinting down at him through the morning sun in his eyes.

Piers just stared at him for a few seconds. Chris did the same. After a short eternity of forgetting what he was even there for, Piers cleared his throat. Okay. Confidence! “Hey.” The teen tried to smile but it felt a little weird. He was still nursing a split lip courtesy of Jake Muller.

Chris looked him over, seeming to consider why Piers might be at his door. That look melted into a softer one after a moment that Piers could only hope was something akin to acceptance.  “Claire’s still sleeping,” he informed the teen, scrubbing his hand through his short cropped hair. Piers guessed he’d just woken up not long ago himself, judging from his attire – or lack thereof.

Whatever nervousness Piers was feeling disappeared in that instant. “I thought we talked about this already.” He rolled his eyes, lips twisting into a frown.  “I’m not dating your sister.”

Chris chuckled knowingly and held the door open for the younger. Piers ducked under his arm, taking note of but trying not to focus on Chris’ naked upper half as he brushed past him. God, he was a good looking guy. Ughhh...

Chris couldn’t help but point out the fairly obvious black eye Piers sported as he closed the door behind him, “Nice shiner.”

Piers kicked off his runners and gave himself a quick tour of the kitchen and living room. “Thanks.” He peeked down the hall to what had to be Chris’ office while he spoke. “So what’re you up to today?” Piers had seen this place from the outside, but he’d never been inside. This was definitely a cozy little apartment.

“Working?” Chris didn’t sound nervous or anything, but Piers did get the impression that the guy was feeling a little out of his element. Like he didn’t entertain visitors very often. “Its Saturday. Shouldn’t you be out with your friends?”

Piers skipped over the question with a short “Mmm~” before turning to face the T.A. “Lets go out.”

“Out?”

“Yeah. Like out somewhere fun.”

“You came over here because you’re bored?” The coffee maker sat unused on the countertop and Chris padded his way over to it barefoot, rubbing sleep from his eye.

Piers ignored him as he sat on one of the kitchen stools and spun on the seat. “I came over here because....” He stopped himself with a hand on the island counter after a spin. “I figured you look like the kind of guy who’d just sit inside all weekend doing work. So I came here to save you from that.”

“My hero.” Chris opened the fridge and pulled out a beer instead. It was the weekend. To hell with coffee.

Piers perked up at the sight of the cold beverage, “Got one for me?”

Chris snorted and popped the cap off with his thumb. “Nope.”

It was worth a try. “Come on, then. Don’t get comfortable! Get dressed and let’s go.”

“I never said I was going anywhere.” Chris reminded him stubbornly, reaching out with one hand to push the younger back onto the stool by his face.

Piers fell back onto the seat, “Oh. _Well_ then. You go back to being a hermit and I’ll have fun on my own then.”

Chris took a swig of his beer. “You don’t know anything about me, kid.” He moved up close to his seated visitor, causing Piers to shift back on the stool to keep an acceptable amount of space between them.

“Hey,” The teen lifted both hands up in surrender, “I’m just calling it like I see it.” Chris’ close proximity was unexpected and it made his heart do that thing again. “You could always prove me wrong....”

Chris continued his less than subtle advancement. His smoothly defined torso was coming dangerously close now. The teen swallowed hard, leaning back into the counter as far as he could go.

Chris seemed to contemplate his offer. Pausing once he was close enough to keep Piers visibly uncomfortable. The kid was cute when he was at a loss. The older man set his beer down on the counter behind his guest. “I suppose you have a destination in mind?”

“Uuh...” No. No he did not have a destination. He hadn’t expected Chris to actually agree to go anywhere with him and although he was very happy about it, Piers was also at a loss. It didn’t help that he was having this conversation with Chris’ navel. It was real hard to think right now. He could feel the other’s body heat he was so close and Piers considered if Chris was actually wearing any shorts underneath those loose fitting night pants. Now _that_ was a thought he didn’t need to think right now! Oh god. “We could...”

Piers’ uncertainty made Chris smirk. Of course the kid had no idea what he was doing. “Maybe you should have come up with a plan before showing up here and talking me out of my house?”

It might have just been a suggestion, but Piers took it as a challenge. “No, I have plenty of ideas, I just don’t know which one of them would be appropriate for an old timer like you.” His sass was coming back despite the situation Chris had put him in, “I don’t want you to get too excited or anything. Might give you a heart attack.”

“I see.” Chris was looking down at him seriously now. Almost as if he wasn’t really paying attention to what they were talking about anymore. His deep brown eyes glazed over as he stared at the guy in front of him. Piers was a student for Christsakes. Why did having him here in his house make the T.A. want to do more than have a conversation with him...

Piers continued to ramble, “And like you said, I don’t know anything about you, so half of my ideas are probably way too exciting for you and I need to weed out the really good ones...” Piers trailed off when he saw how Chris was looking at him. It was distracting. What was he doing?

“And?” Chris chided, letting his one knee contact the stool between Piers’ legs.

“Uh...” Right. Ideas. “So I was thinking that... it would be an okay idea...for us...to...” Piers looked down to the thigh between his legs and he couldn’t find the words to continue what he was saying. Hell. Chris was leaning over him and his face was level with the guy’s chest and Piers was pretty sure he no longer remembered what he was saying or why anymore.

“To...?”

Piers swallowed hard. Chris was obviously testing him. The teen could feel his own body responding to the suggestion of physical contact with this guy and he gave up trying to carry on the conversation in favor of looking helplessly up at the older man for direction.

Chris considered giving Piers an order. His cold fingers left the condensation of the bottle he’d been holding and reached into the younger man’s soft hair. Piers could hear his own pulse in his ears now. _Holy shit,_ Chris Redfield was touching h--

“ ** _Oh!_** ” A surprised voice announced from the mouth of the hall where Claire was standing. She hadn’t stepped into the kitchen yet, like she’d been waiting for one of them to notice her first.

Chris stepped back immediately; leaving Piers to recover from his close proximity while Claire dashed passed them to the cupboard as quickly as she could.

“I’m really sorry to interrupt you!” Claire apologized as she collected a box of pop tarts from the shelf. “If _someone_ had told me he was having _company_ today I wouldn’t have come out of my room!”

Claire gathered up a glass of milk, some syrup and a straw while Chris took a swig of his beer, content to not make eye contact with anyone. Piers waved to his friend as she made her way back to the hallway, winking at him. “Bye! Sorry! Have fun!” and she was gone as quickly as she had come in.

 Well that was awkward.

Neither of them said anything for a minute, each trying to figure out what had just happened. Piers finally slid off the stool, clearing his throat as he did so. “We going out?”

Chris stared at the cupboards, lost in thought again– for a half second Piers thought the older man was going to back out of their unplanned, spontaneous outing together. But Chris snapped out of it, shook his head and disappeared farther into the house.

“Hey—“

When he returned he returned with his nine-oh-nine, and a handful of extra clips.

Piers frowned, “Okay. Are those really necessary? You could just tell me to get out...”

“We’re going to the range. I’m deciding since you can’t make a decision to save your life.”

“Right. Good idea.” Piers perked up until he remembered: “I don’t have my gun with me.”

“You can use mine.” Chris set the gun down and regarded the teen with a suggestive smirk, “That is if you think you can handle it.”

There was something about the way he said that. It evoked a warm chill in the younger. If warm chills were was even possible. “I’m sure I can handle anything you throw my way.” He shot back. His comebacks were going to get him in trouble one day, he knew.

Chris laughed his way down the hall to change his clothes, “Sure you can."


	15. Thats how it is

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After showing up unannounced at the Redfield Residence, Chris decides to take Piers out to shoot some stuff and have pleasant conversations.

“When did you start shooting?”

“Why? Am I doing it wrong?”

Chris was quick to shake his head, because Piers wasn’t doing anything wrong, and that was exactly why he was asking the question. Piers pulled the gun back and glanced over towards the older man and Chris only shook his head again.

“No, I’m just curious.”

“...” Piers turned his attention back to the target at the end of the range and fired a few consecutive shots from the nine-oh-nine he was borrowing. “Dad let me use my first gun when I was nine, but I had pellet guns before that.” It wasn’t a big deal, really.

“He start you with handguns?”

Piers nodded, replacing the clip before steadying his hand all over again. “Yeah. I like them, but not as much as the rifle. Accuracy’s better, and I like the idea that there’s like, hundreds of yards between you and the other guy.”

Chris shifted on his feet. “You know what snipers have to deal with?” Chris had been backup for one or two sniper squads back in the day and he was interested to know if Piers had any idea of how dangerous it was.

The kid just shrugged, taking another near perfect shot. “Yeah. I mean sort of. I’ve read a lot about it. I figure eventually I could work my way up that way, but I’m not going to pretend that I’ll be at the top right from the start.”

Despite the context of the conversation, that comment made Chris smile. “So tell me again why you’re so keen on this military career? Its not just because you’re a natural shot.”

“No, that just comes with practice. Its like I told you; this is what we do. My dad, his dad, we’re all part of the military, doing what we can for the people we love. For our country. You know.” Piers paused again and looked at Chris, lowering the gun and clicking the safety. “You sure ask a lot of questions, Redfield.”

Chris snorted, grabbing the gun from Piers’ hands and effectively trading places with him. “I do recall _someone_ telling me to ‘ _get to know him’_.”

Piers smiled. He couldn’t argue with that at all, so he opted to just watch as Chris went through the motions of taking aim and firing at the target a couple of times. He couldn’t help but watch: Chris moved to aim the nine-oh-nine and his muscles tensed and his fingers grazed across the trigger. Piers could still remember the feeling of those fingers in his hair, grazing against his scalp. It sent a shiver down his spine.

“So uh... you ever going to tell me why you left the Air Force?”

Chris stopped shooting immediately at the question. He had a small hope that Piers would have gotten over that question, or forgotten about it by now, and he was wrong. “No.”

“Come on. This is a two way radio. You ask, I answer. I ask, you answer. It’s a pretty simple concept. Now I’m asking, so you have to answer.” Piers hesitated a second before sighing. “I mean I’d really hate to have to get all this personal stuff out of Claire...”

“Oh is that how it is?”

“That’s how it is.” Piers couldn’t hide his grin.

Chris watched him, and for just a moment Piers wasn’t sure if he’d over stepped his boundaries or not. Was he wrong for thinking that he could take some liberties after what had happened between them earlier?

Even though _nothing had happened_ earlier. Right.

There was silence between them before Chris turned back to the range and emptied his clip into the target.

Piers flinched. “Look....uh, forget I said anything.”

The former air force Captain flicked the safety once he was done ripping into the poor target and took a deep breath, examining the weapon in his hands. “I was on a mission overseas in Edonia when I was given some.... _questionable_ orders that I couldn’t bring myself to follow through with.”

Piers’ eyes widened at that, “You disobeyed direct orders?”

Chris tucked his nine-oh-nine into the back of his jeans and led the young sniper-to-be to the nearest table and pulled up a chair for himself. Piers followed suit waiting with uncharacteristic patience for him to continue with his story.

Chris _didn’t_ continue, much to Piers’ dismay. Knowing as much as he did now was not sating his curiosity. It was making it worse. “So you disobeyed your orders and the mission failed?” Piers pressed for more information despite his better judgment.

Chris sighed, glancing around. He wasn’t surprised to see that the range was filling up with weekenders now that it was well passed noon.

Silence stretched between them and Piers finally got the hint. He ran a hand through his bangs with a sigh that mimicked Chris’ earlier one. “I’m sorry.”

Chris gave him a cheerless smile, shifting in his chair. “Your turn.”

“My turn?”

“I answered one of your questions—“

“Sort of.” Piers called him out on the imperfect answer that left much to be desired.

Chris ignored the interruption. “-So now it’s your turn to answer one of mine.”

It seemed fair enough and it wasn’t like Piers had anything to hide. “Shoot.”

“Why are you here?”

That wasn’t the question that Piers expected and he wasn’t sure he was okay with admitting the answer just yet. “Well, Chris.” He cleared his throat, eyeing the table seriously for a moment before finely glancing up. “This might come as a surprise to you but you brought us here.”

Chris snorted a laugh, “Smart ass. I meant why are you here, with me.”

Piers continued to stare at him seriously. “Again. _You_ brought us here. I had no idea your memory was this bad. How old are you?”

Chris rubbed a hand over his face and groaned. “Never mind.”

“Is this game not going the way you wanted it to?” Piers couldn’t help but smile.

Chris shook his head as he stood up, ready to go, only to have Piers hold him back by the arm before he could walk away.

“I’m here because I want to be.” Hazel eyes focused on anything but Chris for a moment before carefully making eye contact. “I like the company.” He shrugged like it was no big deal, but he was being serious this time.

Chris eyed the hand around his wrist and Piers let it go quickly. “I mean it helps that you’re completely ripped and you have a great ass.” He covered.

“You’re something else, kid.”

They didn’t hang around the range much longer than that. It was getting a little busy and both of them decided that it was a good time to leave. Once settled in the truck, Piers started giving directions back to his house per Chris’ request.

They ended up in a Chick-Fil-A parking lot.

“I’m hungry.” Piers shrugged, hoping out of the passenger’s side fully intent on heading into the fast food restaurant. Chris followed, shaking his head. He was smiling though. Being around this kid was exhausting!

Once he’d ordered, Piers nudged Chris with an elbow to get his attention, and when he had it, he shifted uncomfortably on his feet. “I sort of forgot my wallet...”

“Of course you did.” Chris handed the cashier a twenty dollar bill.

Piers sipped at his drink on their way back to the truck. “Thanks.”

“You do this to all your friends?”

“No.” Piers laughed. “But I had to get you to take me on a date somehow.”

Chris stared at him for a second before he ducked into the truck. Once inside he shifted in his seat and gave Piers one of the most intensely serious looks he’d ever given him. “If this is a date does that mean you’re going to put out?”

Piers choked on his drink, eyeing the older man in surprise but Chris’ stare didn’t falter. “Uuh...” He didn’t know how to answer that and Chris wasn’t letting him off the hook without an answer. “Well... I... I don’t...” Shit. What.

Chris couldn’t hold back a smile much longer. He started the truck with an amused laugh, satisfied with successfully flustering his cocky companion. “Home base then?”

Piers just nodded, leaning back in the seat and sipped his drink.

Chris caught onto what Piers was doing after blindly following the first few directions the younger volunteered. The truck paused at a stop sign. “This isn’t the way to your house.” He should have known that. 

“No.” Piers agreed. “This is the way to your house.” 

Against his better judgement, Chris shook his head an kept driving. Piers was going to get him in trouble.


	16. That's All I Wanted

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Back at Chris' house. Again. At least with Claire gone to the mall our boys can play a little....right?

Once in the house Chris spotted a note on the counter saying that Claire had slipped out to hang out with a couple friends. Piers had been hoping she would be gone – he’d wasted his last twenty bucks bribing her out of the house.

 Piers hopped up onto the counter, feeding himself the last of his fries as he watched Chris read his little sister’s hastily scribbled handwriting. “Well. We’ve got the place to ourselves for a while...”

 Chris tossed his keys into a bowl on the counter, noticing the kid making himself comfortable where he prepared food on a regular basis. He grunted a response, staring expectantly at the youth until Piers got the hint and slid his ass down off the countertop.

 “Thank you.”

 “So I wa--“ A finger silenced anything that Piers was going to say as Chris fished out his cell phone from a pocket and started dialing a number. Piers rolled his eyes and turned away from the kitchen, taking a few steps down the hallway. Guy was probably checking up on Claire, because she obviously couldn’t handle herself at the mall. Ugh.

 Piers walked curiously into what looked like a home office just as Chris started talking into his phone. It was a comfortable little room, furnished with a desk and lamp, a swivel chair and tall bookcase. Photos lined the walls and sat on almost every surface available and Piers picked one such photo off the desk as he took a seat in the leather office chair. It was a picture of Chris and Claire. They were all pictures of either the two of them together or just Claire. It was enough to remind him that the Redfields really did only have each other. Piers didn’t know the story behind why they were living alone together and he never pried. It seemed like an uncomfortable topic, though he didn’t really have a reason to think that way either.

 Setting the picture back on the desk, Piers rolled the chair forward so he could check out some of the frames hanging on the wall. There were some pictures, but most were certificates and awards; a couple of framed medals. Stuff from Chris’ military career.

 Something ice cold at the back of his neck had Piers almost jumping forward out of the chair. “Whoa-!” The chair spun around quickly and Piers glared, one hand at his neck to try and rub away the chill that the bottle had left. “Not funny.”

 Chris just smiled smugly at him and took a sip from the beer bottle he was holding. “Find anything interesting?” he asked.

 “You were a Captain.” Piers settled back, foot tapping against the floor while Chris leaned against the desk with his backside.

 The older man nodded. “I was.”

 “How old are you again?”

 Chris laughed. “Twenty-Six.” 

 A nod. “You must have been one of the best then.” Piers knew all about rank, and it took a lot of hard work to get promoted. Chris had to have worked hard to get a Captain rank, which meant that the story he refused to tell was a lot bigger than Piers had thought. It had to have been because why would you work so hard at something and then let it go?

 “Some might have agreed with you.” Chris regarded a group shot of his former team mounted up on the wall fondly.

 “I’m trying to figure you out, Redfield.”

 A smile twitched at Chris’ lips . It made Piers’ stomach jump. “And?”

 “I got nothing.” He lied. But the admission made Chris laugh, which only served to stir something else in the pit of Piers’ stomach.

 It was really fucking crazy how this guy could do the simplest of things like laugh or smile or touch him and Piers was drawn to him like a moth to a flame. When Chris smiled, Piers wanted... He was just thrilled that _he_ was the one who’d made the T.A. happy.

 Piers coughed, a hand instinctively rubbing the back of his neck. “You gonna offer me a drink?” He nodded towards the beer.

 “I already bought you one.”

 Chris held his drink out of reach when Piers went for it.

“That was a coke. Not the same.”

 “It’s still a considered a drink.”

 Piers made another grab for the beer and Chris had a hand in the kids face, pushing him back into the chair. “Piers you’re seventeen.”

 “Eighteen.” He corrected.

 “You’re still underage.”

 Piers sighed and mimicked the other’s scowl as best as he could, hoping to persuade him into giving up the beverage or at least _sharing_ it. They were at a standoff for a long moment before Chris cracked a smile.

 “ _Chris_.”

 Chris ignored him and took another swig. Piers tapped his fingers against the arm of the chair. The guy was playing with him.

 A sly smile crept across Piers’ lips and for a second Chris’ confidence faltered. Piers pushed off the chair in a sudden move that had him holding his drink up high again. The younger man leaned up into him anyway. It was a quick kiss – one that ended with Piers licking the alcoholic flavoring off his full lips.

 Chris didn’t have anything to say to that.

 “That’s all I wanted.” Piers smirked triumphantly.

 Chris slid his drink down onto the desk and pushed Piers back into the chair and before he could protest Chris was kissing him back. Piers felt a large hand at the back of his neck, thumb rubbing against his hairline softly. Piers reciprocated as best he knew how but it was very obvious the difference in experience between them and he let Chris lead. When their panting mouths parted finally Piers looked at him with wide hazel eyes. _Whoa._

 “ _Christ_.” This was not what Chris had intended.

 Piers tugged him close again and kissed across Chris’ jaw (he’d seen it done in a movie once), hands gripping at the front of his shirt eagerly. “ _Uh huh_...” He agreed through heated breaths. Now was a terrible time to stop whatever this was they were doing.

 Chris lifted him up off the chair and planted him on the desk, his waist between the young man’s legs. Piers gripped him with strong thighs and leaned back across the solid wood surface. Whatever paperwork had been on the desk scattered heedlessly to the floor along with Chris’ beer but neither of them cared right now.

 Chris pulled Piers into another heated kiss and the sound the teen made went straight to the growing bulge in his pants. Piers’ sounds kept Chris going, his hands snaking their way up and under the younger’s shirt and caressing the sensitive skin of his sides in a manner that had Piers squirming beneath the touch.

 “ _Chris._..” Piers couldn’t hide just how turned on he was right now with Chris standing between his legs and their hips pretty snug against each other. The fact that he could _feel_ Chris through their clothing made it worse.

 Then Chris’ pocket started to ring. _“Fuck.”_ When Chris moved to fish out his phone Piers made a disapproving growl of disappointment and grabbed at his arm to stop him. “ _Don’t_. If it’s important they’ll call back.” He was really fucking turned on right now and a phone call was not going to make it go away.

 There was a moment where Chris considered ignoring his phone in favor of continuing, but he gave into the insistent ringing. He mouthed a silent sorry as he answered the call. “Hello?”

 Piers whined. He couldn’t hear words, but the voice sounded like Claire. Why was she always ruining moments like these?

 “No I’m fine. What’s the matter?”

 Piers snorted, letting his hands wander across Chris’ chest. Had Claire heard the arousal in her brother’s voice? He started tugging at the T.A.’s shirt in an attempt to un-tuck it from his pants, but Chris was quick to swat his hands away.

 “No you can’t stay out. It doesn’t matter if it’s Sherry’s house. No.”

 With Chris distracted, Piers tried again. He tugged at Chris’ shirt until he succeeded. His hands slipped under the fabric and grazed over the toned muscle of his stomach.

 Chris’ eyes closed at the touch. “Claire... No, Piers isn’t staying over either.”

 Piers perked up. “But I wan-“

 Whatever opinions he had were shushed when Chris’ free hand clamped over his mouth. He scowled up at him.

 “Claire, I _said_ —“ Chris was getting irritated now. “....Is that _Kennedy_?”

 Kennedy? Why did Piers know that name?

 “Claire are you—Yes you are! Don’t lie to me I can hear him. I thought I told you not to—I’m coming to get you.”

 Chris’ hand slipped from Piers’ mouth so he could shift his cell from one ear to the other. “Meet me in the food court. I don’t care, I’ll find you. You’d better be there in fifteen minutes.”

 Piers gave him a helpless, distressed look when Chris hung up the phone, his hands still brushing across the T.A.’s stomach soothingly. “Claire’s a big girl now, she can handle herself at the mall.”

 “Sorry,” Chris kissed Piers’ forehead as an apology, “I’ll drive you home after.”

 Piers heaved a defeated sigh. How was he supposed to get rid of this boner now?


	17. Aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The aftermath of the previous day.
> 
> I love how there is no actual Leon, just mentions of him. He'll get screen time. Eventually. IDK if I've mentioned this before but head cannon = Piers is short for Pierson, because reasons.

**Saturday Night**

***            *            *            ***

The return ride home from the Nivans’ ranch was hostile. Claire had barely said goodbye to Piers as they dropped him off and she spent the rest of the trip home staring fiercely out her side door window, making a point of ignoring her dumb brother. Chris had become accustomed to such treatment when she was in a mood and he turned up the radio to drown out the telepathic resentment she was sending his direction.

The truck had barely come to a stop in the driveway and Claire was jumping out to storm the front door. If she had been able to unlock the door she’d have been in her room by the time he reached the steps. Chris pulled the keys and followed the trail of bitterness. He hated arguing with Claire. He’d sooner combat enemies of the state than his own sister.

“You have no right to treat him like that! You didn’t have to embarrass him like that in front of everyone.” Oh yes, Claire was pissed. She tossed her sweater on the countertop and kicked off her shoes angrily, storming down the hall to her room. Chris followed suit, kicking off his boots and tossing the keys. “I know my rights. They include protecting you from deadbeat boys who just want in your pants.”

“You don’t even know him!” She yelled back, “He doesn’t want in my pants, he likes me, okay?!”

Chris followed her down the hall. “All guys are the same, Claire. And this Kennedy kid isn’t right for you. Trust me on this.”

Claire spun on him, “ _You’re not dad, Chris! So stop trying to be him!_ ” And with that she slammed her bedroom door in his face.

His sister’s harsh words seemed to paralyze him and Chris stood at her closed door for a long moment afterward. It was rare for her to mention their parents; Even more so for her to accuse him of trying to act like them. He was her legal guardian, true, but was he trying to control her life? No. He was just trying to protect her from making a bad decision.

Leon Kennedy couldn’t even hold a driver’s license. The guy couldn’t drive without totaling a vehicle, and the twenty year old hadn’t finished high school. Rumor had it he only ever showed up to one class: Miss Wong’s travel tourism class. He was not Chris’ choice of boyfriend for his kid sister, no matter how much she liked him and vice versa.

With a regretful sigh Chris let Claire sulk in peace and disappeared into his own sanctuary: his office. There was paperwork to do. Marking to complete for Monday. Sheva was counting on these tests to be… well at the moment they were all on the floor in a haphazard mess. Along with the spilled bottle of beer he’d knocked over when he was…. Shit. He wasn’t exactly the poster boy of smart decisions either, was he?

Trying not to think about how hot he still was for Piers, he knelt down and lifted a wet test paper off the hardwood floor and watched it drip. The ink from a few questions smeared illegibly down the page. Just peachy. How was he going to explain ruined test papers that smelled of stale booze?

This day had started out so well too….

***            *            *            ***

**Sunday**

***            *            *            ***

“ _Pierson_!”

There was no way Piers was going to be able to sneak out of the house after being caught in the act by his mother. Especially after he’d cut out early yesterday. She’d been on him about it as soon as he’d gotten home.

So, caught in the act of trying to leave, Piers raised both hands up in mock surrender. His mom gave him a stern look before thrusting a bag of chicken feed into his arms. “Go.”

“Alright, alright.”

The older woman raised an eyebrow at how easy that was seeing how she was expecting a fight, but she wasn’t going to question it. She did eye her son suspiciously as he left out the back door.

No, She did _not_ trust him.

It was an hour before Martha Nivans went out looking for her son. She had enough things to do around the house that didn’t involve chasing Piers around, and she’d barely realized how much time had passed since Piers had left to feed the chickens. She dropped the laundry basket full of fresh clothes on the ground, wiped her hands on her apron and headed for the door.

There was a basket of fresh eggs sitting on the porch waiting for her, and upon sneaking a peak inside the Chicken shed, the fowl were happily eating and barely noticed her intrusion. Still no sign of her boy, though, and she was worried that he’d gone off again without her knowing.

She was wrong, and found Piers sitting on the fence of the corral with a brush in hand. Both Cosmopolitan and Shirley Temple were hovering around him, anxious for the boy’s attention. The mares nudged each other playfully when one or the other got too much of Piers’ time.

Lifting her dress so she could step down the porch stairs without tripping, Martha made her way across the yard. She leaned against the fence beside her son. “I half expected you to run off again today.”

Piers shrugged. “Thought about it.”

“Yet here you are.”

Shirley turned her attention quickly to Mama Nivans as Piers shrugged again. He didn’t have anything to say in response to that. He’d thought about hitchhiking to town again, but he’d gotten in enough trouble this week.

“Look at me.”

Piers turned at the question and his mom grabbed his chin, moving his face from side to side like she was inspecting him. The black eye from his fight with Muller was healing nicely, so what was she expecting to see?

Martha sighed. “You look happy. I haven’t see you _happy_ since before you hit puberty.”

“Oh Ha. Ha. You’re hilarious.”

She laughed, slapping his cheek affectionately. “So?”

“So what?”

By God her son could be dense sometimes. “Are you going to invite that girlfriend of yours over?”

Piers stared at her. “Girlfriend?” He didn’t... “Oh...” She thought that he was... But he wasn’t dating anyone. “Are you talking about Claire?”

“That’s the girl you took for a ride, right?” He nodded and Martha smiled. “She’s pretty.”

“I’m not dating her.” While he couldn’t deny that Claire was pretty, he really wasn’t interested in her like that. She was just a really good friend.

Cosmo had her nose in Piers’ hair as soon as he got a little flustered and Piers had to push the mare’s face away.

“Alright.” Whether or not his mother believed him was up for debate. “She seems nice though, I could see why you’d be interested in a girl like that. Kind of a spitfire, huh?”

“Mom...”

“Alright, I’m sorry! I’m just saying, is all. If you _did_ have a girlfriend, you can tell me. Your father on the other hand... He might not be so understanding.”

Piers sighed a little heavier, rubbing a hand over Cosmo’s velvet nose. “I know.”

“He wants you to look over those booklets before he gets home. Have you done that yet?” Piers shook his head and his mother brushed a hand into his hair as a way of trying to comfort him. “The sooner you look into this, the easier it’ll be and he won’t push you so hard.”

“I know.”

“If you know, then why are you putting it off? You need to figure out this school business, Piers. Its important.”

“I _know._ ”

Martha gave her kid a small shove before starting back towards the house. Piers didn’t watch her go, focusing instead on the horse that eagerly awaited his attention.

***            *            *            ***

The next time Claire emerged from her room it was Sunday afternoon and the only reason she came out was because one more minute of hearing her own stomach squelch in pained hunger and she was going to die. Chris was still in his office. Brooding most likely. Like he did whenever she made him feel bad for being an ass to her. After making herself something to eat and slinking back into her room unnoticed, the feisty redhead decided to do what she had wanted to do yesterday before her brother and Piers had gone out to the range: hand Chris some condoms.

The school nurse had done some kind of sex education talk recently and Claire and some other students who participated that day took as many free condoms as they could get their hands on. Some – like Jake Muller - blew them up and let the transparent balloons loose in the halls as a joke. Others like Claire had kept them for much more useful reasons.

“Here,” she told her big brother dropping the handful of colorfully wrapped rubbers on the desk in front of him. Startled by her sudden entry, Chris sat back in his seat and stared at the unexpected gifts. Words failed him and Claire turned heel and left the room as quickly as she’d come in.

Chris followed after her and leaned against the wood of her doorframe holding his strange gifts, “Condoms?”

Claire paused her video game. “Yes. Condoms.”

Chris tossed one her way. It hit her in the shoulder. “Condoms.”

“Yes, genius.” She dodged another package as it was thrown her way. “Ah, stop!”

“Where did you get these? _Why_ do you have them?” Chris’ look of concern deepened and he tossed another one at her. She shielded herself and it hit her in the arm this time. “ _Stop,_ Chris!” She was laughing now, even through the irritation of his actions.

“You shouldn’t be using condoms, Little Miss Redfield.” Gods, he really _did_ sound like her parent now, didn’t he?

“Oh there’s some good advice,” She remarked sarcastically, bracing herself to catch the next one thrown her way. “I got them for you and Piers!”

That momentarily halted his interrogation. Claire could swear she saw her brother’s face redden at that. When he recovered, he tossed the remaining condoms at her one by one leaving her little time to dodge in between words.

“I.”

 _Smack_.

“Do.”

 _Smack._  

“Not.”

_Smack._

“Need...” he paused, holding the last wrapper and waiting for her guard to drop. When it did, she received the small packet square in the forehead. “ _Chriiis!”_ She screeched, throwing a few back at him with much more force than he had.

“…Encouragement.” He finished, ducking out of the room to avoid her wrath.

Claire growled loudly in frustration and slammed her door closed once more. Good riddance!

She had barely started her game up again sitting there in the small mess of colorful condom wrappers when her brother poked his head back into her room. “Okay so disregard what I said about not using condoms.” He closed the door again, only to open it a second later to add, “Use them. Just don’t… _need_ to use them. Okay?”

Claire crawled over to slam the door shut once more. This time he stayed away and she grumbled to herself gathering up the packages that littered her room.

There should have been ten of them. 

One was missing.

 


	18. Denial

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sherry finds out what everyone thinks of her and Jake and Piers avoids his own shit in favor of spending more time with the Redfields.
> 
> Sorry this chapter is so late. But here you go!  
> This chapter is a collaboration on both our parts. >_>

“ _No_.” Helena gasped.

Sherry nodded, “Yep.”

“You’re _kidding_.”

The blond started to nod again, but stopped when she realized that Helena was being sarcastic. “ _Hey_!”

Piers coughed to cover his laugh, “I think I speak for everyone here but... we thought you were _already_ dating Jake.”

Helena snickered.

Sherry looked horrified. “N-no I’m not!”

“Coulda fooled me.” Piers snorted.

Sherry crossed her arms and leaned back in her seat. “You guys are horrible. We’re _not_ dating. We never were.”

Piers rubbed a hand in Sherry’s hair, just to irritate her further. She swatted him away. “ _Stop it,_ Piers!”

“Sherry.” Helena pulled the blond’s attention back to her. “So Jake asked you out. Aaaand...?”

“I said no.” Sherry said matter-of-factly.

Piers winced. He didn’t particularly _like_ Jake, but man. Poor guy. “Why?”

The question seemed to confuse Sherry, but before she could answer the teacher stepped into the room and class was underway. They didn’t get a chance to talk for the next hour, and as soon as the bell rang for lunch to start Helena was all over Sherry again before they’d even left the room.

“Jake asked you out and you said _no_? Why on earth would you do that? You guys are adorable together!”

Sherry tried to wiggle her way out of Helena’s grasp but gave up after a futile attempt. “It wouldn’t work out so there wasn’t a point.”

Helena made a face. “That’s a little harsh, isn’t it? Jake’s head over heels for you.”

“Jake is....Jake.” Was Sherry’s reply.

“Yeah, but...” Helena wasn’t sure how to continue. Sherry made a good point.

“You know, I’m mildly upset that you guys just assumed these things about me.” Sherry stared both Helena and Piers down and both of them turned away, guilty. “I mean, what gave you that impression anyway?”

Piers shrugged. “Jake, mostly. He’s kind of possessive of you.”

“He talks about you a lot.” Helena chimed in.

“And he does pretty much everything you say.” Piers added.

“Aaaand he gets pretty riled up when we mentioned you and the T.A being a cute couple.”

Piers shot Helena a look and scoffed. He couldn’t see it. “He did flip a desk in the middle of Simmon’s English class when we brought it up.”

Helena laughed. “And he got suspended because of it.”

Sherry rolled her eyes.

The trio continued down the hall towards the cafeteria, meeting Claire half way there. She seemed to be feeling better, compared to the mood Piers had last seen her in. Hopefully that meant that she’d made up with her brother. The last thing Piers wanted was to end up right in between a Chris versus Claire conflict.

For one reason or another, Sherry needed a third opinion and didn’t hesitate to ask the newly arrived redhead what she thought about the situation.

As expected, Claire too was shocked to find out that no, Sherry was not actually dating Muller.

“Well maybe it’s a sign.”

“A sign?”

Claire gave a little shrug. “You two seem so natural together and everyone thought you were already dating, so why fight fate?” She said simply.

The blond thought about that – Claire might have a decent point. If it wasn’t Jake Muller they were talking about.

“Why don’t you guys find a table? We’re going to grab something to eat.” Claire let the topic of Sherry and Jake go too quickly, and Helena seemed to notice right away but Claire shoved her towards the tables before Harper could inquire what was up. She purposely held Piers back, sending off the rest of the group and tugging him into the long cafeteria lineup. “So?”

“So, hi.” Piers wasn’t dumb, he knew what Claire wanted to talk about. “Not fighting with your brother anymore?”

“He’s still an ass.“ Claire pushed him a step forward in line. “You going to tell me what happened between you two the other night?”

“What happened?” Piers feigned ignorance. “What do you mean? We went to the range.” Like he was going to give her the details!

Claire laughed fakely and a few other students in the line glanced their way as a result. “You’re cute, Piers, but you owe me.” She said ignoring them.

“Ohhh. You mean _after_ the range. When we got to your place and you were gone to the mall with _my money_ to meet up with your _secret boyfriend_?” He grinned.

Claire flushed.

”And didn’t I pay you to give us some time alone? The way I see it Claire, I don’t actually owe you anything.”

“ _Piers_. I need stories. I live for them.”

Apparently the Jake/ Sherry thing was getting old and she needed new gossip.

“My lips are sealed.” He had _paid_ her to get her out of the house, why would he give up valuable information so easily?

This did not impress Claire and after a moment of rummaging in her pockets she pulled out a few crumpled bills. “I’ll buy you lunch, how about that?"

It was a tempting offer. That was probably his money she was offering to pay with. So in essence he was buying his own lunch through her. “What are you doing after school?” he asked instead.

“Avoiding my insane pile of homework. Why? You want to come over?” She wiggled her eyebrows at him.

“Maybe…” he laughed. Piers couldn’t deny that he might get _sidetracked_ if he did end up at her place again _,_ but his intentions would be to hang out with Claire and get some work done this time. Really.

Claire watched her friend over look the selection of greasy foods in the cafeteria display and wondered how he could pass up all that goodness in favor of… well, fruit. Piers grabbed a banana and an apple off the display. Claire ordered French fries dripping with gravy and followed him to the cash with her tray. “You okay?” She asked finally, sensing something was up when he didn’t continue on their conversation.

Piers nodded, thinking about all the things he had to do before his father came home. “Yeah. I’m good.” He just wasn’t in the mood to go home and deal with his own shit right now. And he wanted to graduate. Heaven help him if he slacked on his schoolwork any more than he already had and his parents noticed a drop in his grades! Ugh…

“So my place after school then?” She said, handing him the money for his bizarre lunch selection.

Piers weighed his options: Home to do chores and schoolwork and deal with those college applications, or Claire’s house to do home work and see Chris....

“Your place,” he agreed.

*            *            *

After a bit of homework Claire started up some stupid _Sugarcane Hacksaw_ (or whatever it was called) game. Piers didn’t really want to watch her play so he migrated into Chris’ office. He pulled a chair up to the desk beside the T.A. while he was editing papers and used the quiet time to catch up on some reading.

At first Chris expected him to distract him from his work, but when the teen didn’t say anything and just sat next to him with his textbook open Chris went back to what he was doing. The silence between them was a comfortable one. Even so, Chris got the distinct impression Piers was avoiding something by being here.

After about an hour Chris broke their mutual silence. “Piers.”

“Hmm?”

Chris put down his pen and turned his chair to face the teenager beside him. “What’s the matter?”

Well, that was his cue to leave. “Nothing, I’m great.” He said more defensively then he meant to. He closed his book with a thump, “Thanks for letting me stay in here with you.”

Before Piers could make it two steps from his chair Chris had him by the arm, tugging him back down into it. “ _Piers._ ”

“It’s nothing, alright?” Why was he suddenly so up in arms?

Chris knew better than that. He’d only known the kid about a month, but it was enough time to know when something was bothering him. Piers was pretty transparent that way, he’d learned. He didn’t press the issue however and he let go of Piers’ arm when he sensed the teen’s distress.

Piers didn’t get up and leave like he had intended to do. Chris didn’t go back to marking his papers. After a minute Piers scratched a hand into his spiked bangs, “Dad left me some college pamphlets before he left expecting me to look at them and make this huge decision but...” He leaned into the T.A. hopelessly.

“Have you looked at them?”

“No.”

“Why haven’t you?”

Piers sighed. “I don’t know.”

Chris waited patiently for him to think about it, liking the way the younger man felt relaxed against his arm.

“I guess I don’t want to make that kind of heavy, life-changing decision right now.”

“Choosing the right college is a big deal.” Chris agreed. From the silence that followed, the T.A. got the impression Piers had been carrying the weight of his own indecision for a little while now. “I thought Piers Nivans knew exactly what he was doing with his future.” He prodded gently.

Piers lifted off of Chris in favor of burying his face in his arms on the desk, “I thought so too.” He groaned, voice muffled by the thick sleeves of his hoodie.

Chris picked up the pen and toyed with the lid, pulling it off and pressing it back in place again, “What changed?”

“I’m not sure. Me, I guess.” Hazel eyes flicked up, “Someone asked me what _I_ wanted once and now I don’t know anymore.”

Chris felt Piers’ eyes on him. He made a point of not looking at them and studied the pen in his hands instead. “Good.”

“Good?”

“You’re becoming your own man.”

Piers considered that for a moment. “What about you?”

“What about me?”

“When did you start questioning what you wanted? Why did you leave the force after making Captain? Because of some questionable orders?”

Chris set the pen down and aligned it with the side of the pile of test papers. “I didn’t choose to leave. I was discharged.”

Piers’ heart sunk.

“I caused a high priority mission to fail.” A shadow crept in over the former soldier’s visage at the memory and suddenly Piers regretted bringing up the subject; Insubordination had steep consequences. “I made a call in favor of saving the life of one of my men and in doing so compromised the lives of many. I sabotaged the entire operation because I chose to ignore direct orders instead of leaving one of my own behind.” He took to rubbing his face with his hands and sighed heavily into his palms. Why was this so hard to talk about after all this time?

“I’m sorry.” Piers looked down at his book. “I didn’t mean to drag you through that again.” Well, he’d gotten more of the story out of him, finally. Was he happy about it? Not so much.

Chris chuckled softly. “You’re persistent when you want something.”

It was true, and right now Piers wanted Chris. He didn’t fully know in what context he wanted him, he just knew he wanted more of him than he currently had. He pulled his chair closer to the older man so he could lean his head against him again. “Only when I want it bad enough.”

Chris reached a hand into the teen’s soft brown hair and scratched lightly at his scalp. Piers hummed contentedly at the feeling. He really did like it when Chris touched him. He was going to get used to it if the T.A. kept it up….

“You boys want some popcorn if I make it?”

Piers’ eyes flew open and the pair turned to see Claire cross-armed in the doorway. There was a knowing smile on her face. “It’s movie time,” She chirped.

Chris got up from his seat and stretched, pretending not to notice his sister’s obvious approval of his attraction to her friend. “You going to burn the popcorn again this time?” He teased, receiving her boney elbow in the ribs as he passed her through the doorway.

“It said _four minutes_! So I left it in for _four_ minutes!”

Piers followed them down the hall with a smile on his lips. He was glad they were talking to each other again after the whole mall fiasco. Even still he couldn’t help but wish Claire didn’t always have such terrible timing.

“Depending on the power of your individual microwave,” Chris countered, pulling out a big bowl from the cupboard and handing it to his sister, who pretended to hit him with it. “You use the damn thing enough to gauge how long things take to heat up.”

The lingering feeling of those calloused fingers on his skin had Piers thinking up ways to get Chris to touch him again. Maybe a movie wasn’t such a bad idea. There was only one couch after all. Maybe Claire would sit on the floor….

*            *            *

Claire didn’t sit on the floor. In fact, she somehow managed to sling both her legs across Chris and their guest for the length of the movie. Well, at least until Chris yawned part way into the film and announced he was ready to make it an early night.

“Aww stay and watch the rest of the movie.” Claire whined. But Chris was done. Piers didn’t blame the guy for not wanting to watch Claire’s choice of chick flick. He was having a hard time keeping his eyes open himself. Now if only Chris would invite him to sleep in his room….

His chances for shacking up were dashed a moment later when Chris tossed a blanket over the pair still on the couch and bid them goodnight. The teens unburied themselves from the fabric. Claire pouted. Piers sighed inwardly.

So much for crashing with Chris tonight.

*            *            *

_“Hang on!”_

_His partner nodded, her panicked blue eyes never leaving his face. She had no choice but to trust him now. One slip up and they would both go over the edge of the ridge._

_A lone enemy gunman spotted the two soldiers in trouble and took aim with his rifle from a vantage point above. His intent was to kill._

_If his partner hadn’t noticed the enemy and he hadn’t seen the wave of calm acceptance wash over her features, Chris would have never pulled his own gun in their defense._

_The enemy marksman was in position to take the shot when Chris used his free arm to unsheath his nine-oh-nine handgun and take aim in the direction of his partner’s gaze. It was them or the enemy now. Chris prayed he could at least spook the shooter into misfiring by taking the first shot. Buy them a little time…._

*            *            *

Piers couldn’t sleep. The Redfield’s couch was comfy enough. He was tired enough to sleep. He just wasn’t in the mood to sleep. Maybe it was because he’d never spent the night at Claire’s place before and the change in environment wasn’t helping him relax. Maybe it was the remarkably loud ticking away of the grandfather clock in the corner of the living room that was keeping him awake. Or maybe it was the fact that Chris was down the hall alone in his bed and Piers really wanted to be in there with him.

Yeah, that was the one.

A million scenarios played over in the teen’s head as soon as he considered sneaking into Chris’ room, but none of them came close to preparing him for what actually did happen.

Deciding it was now or never and his bravery wouldn’t last, Piers peeled the covers off his legs and coaxed himself up from the couch. With a deep breath, (and fingers crossed he wouldn’t step on any super loud creaking floorboards on the way) he made his way down the hall. Chris was breathing hard when Piers came in, and for a second he considered the T.A. might be doing something he shouldn’t be walking in on. Embarrassed by his own intruding, the teen hesitated in the doorway, listening for clues Chris might have heard him come in.

After a moment of awkwardly standing there, Piers realized Chris wasn’t pleasuring himself, but having an unsettling dream. It must have been very vivid because the older man sounded distressed.

Maybe he should wake him up from his nightmare? Comfort him?

The teen made his way to Chris’ side and reached out to gently touch his arm.

Chris was awake instantly at the touch. With surprising speed he reached beneath the pillow, feeling for and gripping the familiar hilt of his handgun. Like the lightning fast ex-soldier he was, Chris took aim at the figure next to him in the dark. Without thinking about it he was prepared to fire a round deep into the enemy’s chest. Years of experience and conditioning had the former Captain hesitating a millisecond to verify his target before blowing him away.

That millisecond saved Piers’ life. The teen yelped at Chris’ unexpected knee-jerk reaction to his touch and he stumbled away from the man with a gun, his hands up where Chris could see them. “It’s me! It’s me, I’m sorry!”

In the dark, Piers’ frightened voice had Chris pulling his weapon back. “ _Jesus Christ, Piers! I could have shot you!_ ”

“I know, I’m sorry!” Piers’ eyes never left the gun in Chris’ hand. At least the guy recognized his voice enough to not kill him, right? It was still unnerving as fuck to have the barrel of a gun aimed at you by someone barely conscious. “I’m sorry.”He repeated, quieter this time. He didn’t move from his position of surrender.

Chris flicked the safety back on his weapon and wiped his forehead of the cold sweat that gripped him. _“Fuck.”_

Fear quickly turned into regret in the pit of Piers’ stomach and he backed out of the room slowly. He wanted to apologize again but the words seemed to echo empty now. Chris was still recovering from his sudden outburst and the teen didn’t want to cause him any more grief.

“The hell were you doing in here?”

Piers didn’t really have an answer for that. At least not one he wanted to confess to out loud. He paused on his way out of the room, a hand on the doorframe. “…Nothing.”

He heard Chris snort at that.

“Go back to sleep, okay? I’m sorry for waking you up. I really am.”

“I could have killed you, Piers.”

“I know,” he admitted without his usual humor. “I’m really glad you didn’t.”

When the older man didn’t respond Piers took it as a sign to return to his place on the couch.

The teen had barely gotten comfortable when Chris emerged from his room. Heavy footfalls made their way from the hall to the kitchen, where Chris poured himself a glass of water from the fridge. The last thing Piers expected was to feel the older man’s weight rest on the cushions next to him a moment later. Piers sat up on his elbows, unsure of what to expect.

Chris handed him his glass. “I can’t stress enough how dumb that was.” He lectured gently.

Piers took the glass from him, “I know.”

Chris watched him take a drink.

Piers handed the water back to him and flopped back against his pillow. “To be fair, I had no idea you had PTSD.”

Chris paused halfway to setting the glass on the coffee table. “Who told you I had PTSD?”

“No one. I kind of figured it out when you freaked the way you did when I touched you.”

“Basic survival skills.” The glass thunked a little too hard against the wood of the table. “Not PTSD.” There was a twinge of bitterness in his tone Piers hadn’t heard from him before.


	19. Intoxicated

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Piers and Jake head to the bar.  
> You'll notice a few RE5 cameo's in this chapter!

“You’re serious?”

Jake Muller gave him a deadpan stare, “Dead serious.”

About a month ago, Jake had brought up the idea of fake IDs and Piers had laughed and jokingly had agreed that it was a great idea. It wasn’t. It was a stupid idea that could get them both in a lot of trouble, yet there they were.

Of course, Piers had to examine the card that had been tossed carelessly on the table. It looked nice, legit. But what did Piers know? He flipped the card over, humming lightly.

“Nice, huh?” Jake looked proud, like he’d done the job himself.

“Yeah... It looks great.” Piers was honestly impressed. Where’d Muller get someone to make these? “Jake…”

“Seventy-Five dollars. It’s cheap and you said you were on board with this, Nivans. Don’t back out on me now.”

Piers stared at the card intently, thinking. It was a good picture, the birth date said he was 22. It looked believable for all Piers knew. He nodded. “Yeah okay, but I have to go home to ge—“

Jake snagged the card right out of his hands. “This is business. You get this when I get my money.”

Piers frowned. What, was this a drug deal or something? “Are you serious?”

“Damn right I am. What are you doing tonight?”

“Nothing...”

“You wanna go out?”

Piers stared at him, surprised. “What?”

“To a bar you dumbass—What, like I’d fucking hit on _you_!” Jake shook his head, completely put off.

Piers couldn’t help but laugh, and laugh hard. “Whoo! You had me worried!”

“Tch. With that face though...”

“Oh screw you, Jake.”

“Come on. I’ll even buy you a few rounds.”

It was a tempting offer for sure. Piers really had nothing planned for the night. The only thing really holding him back was that a night out with Jake Muller was probably a bad idea. Then again being spontaneous might be a good thing….

“Yeah, sure.”

They’d made plans to meet up later and Jake led the way to an overcrowded sports bar. There wasn’t a line to get inside, but bodies poured in and out of the building, all of them much older than both boys, and drunk to boot. Piers wasn’t nervous to be there or anything, but he was caught outside of his element.

Jake shoved him a little when he hesitated in the doorway, like the guy was worried he was going to back out at the last minute. That wasn’t the case at all. With the clock ticking for his father’s return home, Piers’ stress level was escalating and he needed a good drink to calm down.

At least, that’s what he hoped to do.

The bouncer at the door eyed them both suspiciously, but there was enough going on around them that he didn’t question the identification provided and ushered Piers and Jake into the bar without another thought. The inside of the bar was much busier than the outside and it took a bit of work to actually find somewhere to sit. It was thrilling, sitting in a place that you weren’t supposed to be in.

“We can’t both leave to get a drink.” Piers almost had to shout for Jake to even hear him over the commotion around them. “I can stay here since you said you’d buy.”

Jake nodded and pushed into the crowd disappearing somewhere in the midst of bodies. Was it always this busy here on Friday nights?

It took Jake a while to get back to the table. Long enough that Piers considered he might have gotten lost or sidetracked. Kidnapped? What would Piers do if Jake got kidnapped?

A bottle thunked against the table in front of him and Jake took the empty chair opposite him, already taking a swig of his own.

Piers fiddled with the bottle a bit before taking a drink. To say it was bitter was an understatement. “How are you holding up, anyway?” He asked, making a sour face. What the hell kind of drink did Muller hand him?

Jake looked at him.

“I mean, the whole Sherry thing. How’re you-“

“Shut up, Nivans. Fuck. If I wanted to talk about my feelings I’d talk to her about them, not you. Christ.”

Piers snorted, sitting back in his seat. “Yeah, okay.” Maybe that was the whole reason why Jake was so keen on going out tonight?

There wasn’t much conversation between them at first. Jake left to grab them another beer when they were done their firsts (they were drinking to fill the silence it seemed) and by the time Jake got up a third time, conversation was flowing more naturally. It could have been because at this point both boys were definitely feeling the alcohol content in their veins. The crowd had lessened a little by now and they could actually see the TV’s mounted on the walls around the bar, though the game was an old replay from a week ago. The pair laughed about everything from Professor Simmons’ wardrobe to the crazy girls they both seemed to surround themselves with including the Harper sisters, Claire and Sherry. When the topic of Sherry came up again Jake volunteered to grab another round. He was avoiding the subject and Piers kind of felt bad for the guy all over again. Sure Jake was an ass but it must really blow to like someone and be rejected by them.

Jake set down four bottles this time and Piers guessed that he didn’t want to get up again any time soon for another drink run. “We’re fucked.”

“We’re _what_?” Piers took a drink to hide his laugh.

“F.U.C.K.E.D.” Jake enunciated the word as if Piers was stupid.

What an idiot. “I heard what you said Ja-“ As soon as he saw what Jake was referring to his words died in his throat.

From the other end of the bar Piers’ hazel eyes met with a pair of brown ones; Brown eyes that he’d be able to recognize anywhere. Chris sat with a couple of guys around a table, all of them drinking together and watching the TV’s. It was the same as what Jake and Piers were doing, only Chris was legally allowed to be there.

What was Chris doing there? Piers averted his eyes and focused on the stained table he was sitting at. Shit.

Jake groaned and Piers assumed that it was because Chris was making his way over.

His fingers tapped anxiously against the table before he went to take a drink, but the bottle was pushed back down onto the table by a large hand. Piers winced.

“Boys.”

Jake leaned back in his chair, sighing obnoxiously. He’d already accepted defeat. “Shit. Caught already. Whatcha gonna do, Redfield? Tell my dad?”

Piers flushed and kept avoiding eye contact. Piers was tipsy, he couldn’t help but react to Chris’ close proximity. It wasn’t his fault okay. He could _feel_ Chris’ eyes on him and his fingers tapped feverishly against the bottle he was holding, hoping that no one would notice how the older man made him feel.

“No. I’m going to hope that you two know what you’re doing and I’m going to pretend I didn’t see you.” His attention turned away from the Muller kid, “Piers.”

“Hmm?” Was it hot in here? It’d been a whole week since he’d seen Chris last and the guy had him hot and bothered all over again just by standing next to him.

“How are you doing?”

Chris knew Piers was drunk. And underage. And drunk. And so not allowed to be there.

Piers was suddenly very fucking turned on for no reason. “‘M good.” He still refused to look at him.

Chris knocked his knuckles on the table with a lighthearted, “Alright, stay out of trouble” before heading back to his own table.

Piers let out the breath that he hadn’t realized he was holding in once he was gone.

Jake started laughing, slapping his hand over the table and rattling the empty bottles. “Fuck! I nearly shit myself! I thought we were dead and he was going to go straight to my dad! Ha! Fuck are we lucky or what?!”

Piers downed what was left in his bottle and reached for the full one. “ _Shit._ ” After a second of hesitation, he glanced back over to where Chris was sitting. The guys he was with were all rowdy, yelling at the game playing on the TV like it was the first time they’d seen it, and Piers wondered for a second who they were before Jake distracted him.

“Oh, _hell-o_.”

“What?” Piers had to completely turn in his seat to see what -or who- exactly Jake was looking at, and it was pretty obvious when he spotted the dark haired woman standing at the bar in the tight gold dress.

It was a distracting dress. Glittering with well-placed rhinestones and silky fabric hugging her curves demanding attention from anyone who glanced her way. She looked misplaced: the only one of her kind in a den of men. It was no surprise that Jake had fallen victim to her.

She looked vaguely familiar...

“Now _that_ is something I can get behind.” Jake purred.

Piers made a sour face. “She’s a cougar. A _huntress_. She’ll eat you alive.”

Jake slipped off his chair, leaving his drink behind. “Whatever man. I’ll be back in a minute. Think you can survive without me?”

Piers laughed, “In a minute? Think it’ll take you that long, Muller?” He made an unpleasant snorting noise that sounded weird to his own ears. Man, was he ever feeling that beer in his system.

Jake ruffled his hair, shoving his friend’s forehead into the table with a clank. Piers shoved him off. It didn’t take a genius to realize that Jake couldn’t care any less about him right now. He was on the prowl.

Left to guard the table, Piers took another drink while he watched Jake make his move. He wasn’t sure what exactly passed between them, but the woman seemed pleased with the meat she had attracted (there really wasn’t any other way of putting it). There was some brief touching, the woman running a hand over Jake’s shoulder, probably complimenting ‘ _such a_ _handsome man’._

Piers took another sip of his beer, pausing when the bottle touched his lips and realization hit. _Oh fuck_. That was Miss Gionne, Principle Wesker’s _secretary_. That’s why she looked so familiar! Piers hovered between mortified and...well, even more mortified. She had to know who Jake was. Right? Piers downed the rest of his beer in one go. Maybe if he drank enough he’d forget about what he was seeing.

It wasn’t very long before Piers lost track of Jake and he really _was_ sitting alone waiting for the guy to get back and mildly worried that Jake had completely abandoned him. Chris and his buddies were still sitting across the bar and Piers found it entertaining to watch the older man interact with his friends in the meantime. The guys were rowdy for sure, taking turns to whistle at the waitresses as they worked. A few of them dared to catcall reaching out to touch one of the girls as she walked by, hands grasping firm on her butt. All of them weren’t afraid to oogle that very ass every time it walked by.

Except Chris, Piers noticed. The guy laughed with them and talked loud and shouted at the game, but he didn’t bother the girls like everyone else did, and it wasn’t because they were unattractive.

Piers’ head was pleasantly spinning through the haze of alcohol, and he confiscated what was left of the beer Muller had abandoned on the table, wondering what it was like to be a military man in Chris’ circle of friends. The former Captain seemed to be popular still among his group (whom Piers could only guess were men he’d worked with based on their apparent closeness).

Despite having spent the last half hour alone, this was actually not that bad of an experience. The tension he’d been feeling from all that stress was a distant memory now. He felt good. Really good. And every once in a while Chris would glance through his group of rowdy friends to catch the younger’s gaze. It was silly to think, but Piers got the impression Chris was looking out for him. It was comforting, despite the physical distance that separated them.

The same waitress that had been serving Chris’ table made her way over to Piers and he didn’t hesitate to add another beer to Muller’s tab. Why not? The guy had left him there to fend for himself so he could very well afford another drink or two. She returned with yet another bitter tasting beverage for him and at this point he was more than happy to take it from her.

He was half way through that beer when the seat opposite him was occupied by what the teen’s drunken brain could only describe as…a weasel. Piers had to take a second to blink away the bizarre mental image that cropped up and actually focus on the guy who’d sat across from him. Yeah, it was a weasel. A weasel with a thin face and stoner eyes, wearing a white suit with a bright orange shirt, and sporting some greasy blond slicked back hair. Wow. The guy looked about as approachable as an informant for the mafia.

The guy grinned. _What a weasel._

Piers almost laughed but he took a drink to cover it up. “Hi.”

The stranger introduced himself as Ricardo Irving. ‘ _A businessman passing through town.’_ What did that even mean? “Yous looks like the most interestin’ thing in this bar, why yous sittin’ all alone?” he asked with some kind of accent that Piers couldn’t place.

“Thing?” Was he actually just referred to as a _thing_? Who _did_ that?

Irving scooted his chair a bit closer and the sudden proximity made Piers uncomfortable. “Well you know. Somethin’ prettier than expected.” He clarified.

Their knees touched and Piers shifted away from the unwanted contact. Where did Jake go…?

The stranger named Irving might have noticed that Piers was uncomfortable if he wasn’t too busy being creepy. Fucking weasel.

“I’m actually waiting for a friend...” Piers scanned the bar for any sign Muller’s shaved head.

“You got a name, sweetheart?”

“Yeah, I do.” He was so _not_ giving this guy his name. Even in his inebriated state he knew better than that. Piers took a much-needed drink, trying to look anywhere but at his table-mate.

Irving wasn’t too pleased with Piers’ stubborn resistance and waved down a waitress. “Why don’t we have another round?”

Piers shook his head, “No I really don’t think that’s a good idea-“

The waitress approached and the weasel ordered two drinks from her despite the kid’s protests. Piers really didn’t need another drink, especially not one from this guy.

“C’mon, don’t _resist_. Looks like yous had a few already, so what’s one more?” the guy motioned at the collection of empty bottles already spotting the table like he was making a point. “We can get to know each other a little.”

“Oh yeah?” Piers was drunk, and even though he was uncomfortable and probably going to have one hell of a hard time standing up, he couldn’t help but taunt this guy. What the hell was this man thinking, coming up to some random kid in a bar? “You got any idea who I am, _Ricardo_?” Piers leaned into the table with what he hoped was a trademark Nivans scowl.

Irving smirked. “Wes could talk about it somewhere less crowded. Yous can tell me all your secrets. Whaddaya say?”

Piers’ scowl had not been scowly enough, it seemed.

“No thanks.” He went to move, managed to slide his chair back an inch before Irving the weasel had a hand on his arm, holding him in place. Piers froze at the unwanted contact. “Hey—“

Before he could get more than that out, someone set a bottle onto the table between him and Irving, effectively separating them. Irving’s hand dropped away from Piers’ arm. The teen had never been more thankful to see Chris in his life.

“Mind if I join you?” Chris was pulling a third chair up to the table as he was asking and the stranger had no choice but to back off to make room for the bigger, much more intimidating man.

Chris stared him down and the weasel coughed. “I was just buy’n the kid a drink. Can'tcha mind your own business?”

Chris’ stare hardened dangerously, earning an uncomfortable shift from Irving. He knew exactly what the guy was doing. Piers fiddled with his bottle, peeling the label.

The waitress came back with the drinks that Irving had ordered and the weasel grabbed them both before taking off back into the crowded bar, surrendering his prize to the territorial bear.

Piers sighed in relief once he was gone. “Thanks,” he breathed.

“Grab your stuff.” Chris didn’t wait for a reply. He stood up and started walking towards the entrance.

Piers barely had time to grab his jacket and stumble after him. He was honestly surprised that he _could_ stand, though he bumped into a couple just as they were coming into the bar and the bouncer at the door eyed him as he brushed past him after Chris. “Where we going...?”

“I’m taking you home.”

Piers grinned, a familiar heat building in the pit of his stomach, “You promise?”

The suggestion was hard to miss and equally difficult to ignore. “Home. To _your_ house,” Chris clarified as he led the way to his truck.

“No don’t! Please don’t do that...” Piers was genuinely distressed by that idea. He couldn’t even imagine the trouble he’d be in if his mother knew he had snuck into a bar illegally. No, going home was not part of his plan for tonight. Mind you, neither was seeing Chris. “You should _really_ think about tak’n me to yer place right now.” He pressed, dropping his jacket and having a difficult time picking it up again.

“Piers, you need to go home.” The T.A. held the truck door for him impatiently. He’d never seen the kid with alcohol in his system and it was unsettling given Piers had nearly been taken advantage of by a scumbag in his vulnerable state.

“I really wanna stay with you,” Piers bit his lip and reached out to grip the fabric of Chris’ shirt. The alcohol made it very easy to say whatever he was thinking without a filter.

Chris eyed him for a long moment, watching the teen sway unsteadily on his feet, reddened eyes hopeful in the face of his indecision. “Get in the truck,” he relented. It was probably better to keep an eye on the teen in his current state than take him home to livid parents.

Piers crawled into the passenger side of the truck, shutting the door behind him and catching his coat in the frame. He tugged a little in an attempt to free the fabric before finally giving up. Oh well. He drummed his fingers across the side of the door while he watched Chris start up the engine and put the standard truck into gear. It was a stupidly simple action and it had the inebriated teenager hot all over again. He might have giggled to himself as he considered what it’d be like if Chris ever handled him the same way. _Wow. Okay, you can stop now,_ he scolded himself.

“How’d you know I’d be at that bar?” Chris asked once they were clear of the parking lot.

“I didn’t,” came Piers’ matter of fact reply. “Pretty lucky though, huh?”

Chris spared a glance towards Piers. “Lucky?”

“I got t’see you again. That’s pretty lucky.”

“How about _lucky I noticed you about to get manhandled by some creeper in a suit_.” Chris sounded a tad frustrated with him again.

“Yeah that was crazy weird I know,” A lazy smile twitched at the kid’s lips. “My hero.”

Chris was silent the rest of the ride. Piers marveled at how heavy his limbs felt under the influence of alcohol. No wonder people stumbled around like zombies when they had too much to drink. He felt good. And strangely detached from himself. But it was a good detached. Yup.

The truck pulled into the Redfield’s driveway a few moments later and Chris unbuckled his seatbelt with a heavy sigh. “Don’t be loud,” he instructed, “Claire’s slee-“ Whatever else he was going to say was cut short when Piers started crawling across the seat, lifting his leg over the stick shift so he could nestle himself right there in his lap. “Piers-“

“ _What_.”

There wasn’t much room in the driver’s seat, what with the steering wheel digging into his back and Chris’ muscular form practically pinning him against it. Chris didn’t know what to say after that. He looked slightly uncomfortable in this new situation. Making more room was something the teen’s nimble fingers could accomplish though, and the seat they were on slid back once he’d found that lever on the base.

“What are you doing?” Chris found his words again.

Piers shrugged. “Saying thank you. Properly.” He had fingers dancing up the sides of Chris’ arms, his nose brushing against his five o’clock shadow. He shushed the older man’s oncoming protests with a light peppering of kisses across his lips; a distraction that only lasted a moment.

Chris pushed the younger man off him. _Where did he learn to do that?_ “Piers, don’t-” but before he could even attempt to scold him Piers reacted, grinding his ass down into the T.A’s lap. Chris’ breath hitched at the contact. That wasn’t fair.

Piers did it again and Chris dropped his head against the kid’s shoulder. “ _Stop_...”

The weak protest had Piers smiling. Even through their jeans he could feel that Chris was getting hard already, and he’d barely done anything yet. “Make me.” Came Piers’ taunt and he pushed Chris back against the seat, lips easily finding the other’s. It wasn’t long before Chris had a hand at the back of Piers’ neck, holding him in place.

It was a rough kiss. Needy. It had Piers submitting eagerly to the man he was sitting on. He could feel Chris’ inhibitions fading fast, arousal displacing rational thought. The T.A. relinquished the grip he had on Piers’ neck in favor of grasping a fistful of his short hair.

Piers ground a slow rhythm into the lap he was sitting on and Chris’ grip on his hair tightened in reaction. “ _Piers_...” It wasn’t a command to stop this time; it was encouragement. Chris’ voice was deep, husky, and by the sound of it Piers was working him up perfectly.

The teen’s intoxicated mind didn’t register consequences and Piers hummed pleasantly when Chris’ hands started to wander, digging his fingers under the hem of his shirt and tugging it upwards. Piers was eager, that was for sure. He helped pull it the rest of the way up, pausing to fight with the fabric briefly before throwing it aside. Chris’ calloused hands were warm against his bare skin and Piers leaned back against the steering wheel, completely enthralled by the feeling.

The truck horn blared suddenly in the dark, scaring both boys out of their sensual play. Piers leapt forward into Chris in surprise. The sound was enough to rattle both of them out of their heated state of mind. Piers snorted, trying to hide his oncoming laugh, “I am sooo sorry.” It just felt right to apologize.

Chris rubbed a hand over his face, a meek attempt at trying to get his mind back into working order. Piers had this uncanny ability to completely derail him. “We should get inside.” It was the responsible thing to do. What had he been _thinking_?

“Yeah. Prolly woke up th’entire block.” Piers agreed, but he didn’t move from his spot in Chris’ lap.

Chris hesitated and Piers took advantage of it, leaning forward just enough so that their lips touched again. He wanted more of whatever this was they were doing. The kiss lasted barely a second this time; Chris pushed Piers back, his attention caught by a neighbor’s porch light that had just clicked on. “Piers.” His voice grew stern.

“Okay, okay.” Piers sighed, scratching a hand through his hair. He was frustrated, but he obediently pushed open the driver’s side door and climbed awkwardly out of the truck. It was kind of a piss-off when Chris backed out like this, and intoxicated Piers was upset by it. He couldn’t help it. Did Chris think that he didn’t know what he was doing? Because he knew _exactly_ what he was doing.

Sort of.

The truck door slammed shut and Chris pushed Piers forward, watching as the drunken minor stumbled across the driveway towards the house. He paused a minute to look back in the truck, eyes searching for that shirt that Piers wasn’t wearing anymore. Where had he tossed it...? “Piers where did your shirt go?”

The kid shrugged dramatically, walking backwards. “Dunno.”

Chris sighed and shut the door again after a failed search attempt. He’d have to look for it tomorrow.

Piers was waiting beside the door. He should have been cold being out in the night air, shirtless, but being overheated was a side effect of being drunk, it seemed. Well that and being turned on helped too. The T.A fiddled with his keys and unlocked the door. “Claire’s asleep so you need to be quiet.” He reminded his guest before letting him in.

“Alright. Alright.”

The house was dark when they got in and Chris flicked on a light as Piers struggled to kick off his boots in the entrance. When the light came on, both boys were surprised to find Claire very much awake and sitting at the table in the kitchen, as if she’d been waiting for them to get home. Kind of like a parent would.

“Welcome home, boys.” She made a point of looking between the two, judging them with unimpressed tired eyes. “Could you get any louder at two in the morning?”

Piers was amused to find that his friend was awake and he didn’t need to sneak around the house – he was drunk, and he really didn’t think he could tip-toe quietly to the bathroom. “ _Hi_ ~” He also knew that he wasn’t supposed to be here, and it felt like he’d just been caught sneaking around. Which he was actually doing.... That was funny.

With his boots off finally, Piers comically side stepped around the kitchen (under the mildly concerned gaze of Claire) and disappeared down the hallway using the wall for support until he made it to the bathroom.

Claire was on her brother as soon as the bathroom door shut. “What’s he doing here?”

“I found him at the bar.”

She frowned “At the _bar_?” Piers couldn’t have been at the bar. He was underage. What kind of bar let eighteen year olds in??

Chris ran a hand up through his short hair, looking conflicted, “Some predator tried to take him home.” He was still pissed about that.

Claire grinned despite the seriousness of the news.

 _“Don’t say it,”_ Chris knew his sister well enough to know what was coming next.

But she couldn’t help herself. The words were on their way out despite the warning, “Good thing you got to him first.”

Chris groaned and rubbed his face. He was no predator, but given what had just happened between them in the truck…let’s just say it didn’t make him feel much better than one. Claire snickered at his inner turmoil as she watched him grab for a clean glass and fill it with water from the fridge.

“He looks drunk.”

“He is.” Chris grunted, finishing off his glass, clearly not impressed.

“How exactly did he get into a bar to get drunk? Did you sneak him in?”

Her brother’s look put a stop to that theory. She knew better.

“Okay so who was he with when you found him?”

“Wesker’s kid. Muller. But he left him there to fend for himself.”

“ _Jake_?” Oh. Well _that_ made more sense. He would convince Piers to sneak into a bar and then ditch him there. Claire made a mental note to chastise Muller when Monday rolled around. Piers was no rebel. What a bad influence….

Piers made his way back up the hallway slowly earning Chris’ attention when he made it back to the kitchen looking groggy.

“How you feel?”

“’M’kind of tired.”

“Piers, where’s your shirt?” Claire had gotten up from the table and was ready to help her poor drunk friend to bed, but Piers’ lack of fundamental clothing stopped her. Not that he wasn’t attractive or anything, it was just that his shirt was _not there_ and she didn’t know why. “Did you lose it at the bar?” Chris had mentioned that there had been some kind of _predator_ there, so maybe…?

Piers shrugged, trying to play it cool but he couldn’t stop himself from grinning. “Dunno~”

Claire glanced towards her brother, who avoided eye contact with her. “ _Chris_...” Was she accusing him of taking advantage of an intoxicated minor? Yes she was.

Chris rubbed at the back of his neck, suddenly very awkward. “Look, just let him sleep in your room, okay? You can man the couch for tonight.” He didn’t trust Piers to stay on the couch, especially after the other night. Putting him in a room with a door might be just enough of a barrier to keep him there. 

Claire didn’t look impressed at all. “You sure you don’t want to keep a closer eye on him? Like in your room?”

He did not need this right now, especially from his sister. He gave her his best _don’t argue with me_ look.

“Hey...” Piers looked between both Redfields, frowning. He’d been trying, and failing to follow their conversation, “What’re you talking about?” He yawned.

“Absolutely _nothing_.” Claire smiled. “C’mon lets get you to bed.” She’d started tugging Piers along with her as she spoke and he went willingly with her up until he realized that they were headed to her room, and then he put the brakes on. “Oooh _hey_. Wait a minute can’t I, like...” This was not a part of his plan! Piers glanced over his shoulder to find Chris still standing in the kitchen. “I should probably not stay in your room Claire it’s alright I’ll just use the couch.”

Piers tried to head for the living room but Claire was easily able to hustle the intoxicated boy. “Piers, trust me. You’ll get a good night’s sleep in here. This way.”

He whined, but that was the extent of his ability to protest.

 

*            *            *

Once they disappeared down the hall Chris left the kitchen in favor of the darkness of his room, stripping as he went. The mattress groaned beneath his weight as he flopped down onto it and unzipped his jeans, peeling them down off his legs and kicking them to the floor. He was still uncomfortably solid thanks to Piers’ antics. Did the kid even know how much he turned him on? How difficult it was to stay responsible when he was practically begging to be taken like that?

Nivans had a way of getting around his usually uncompromising defenses. It was unnerving just how easily he did it too. Chris wanted him _bad_. So bad he knew it was just a matter of time before he slipped up and did something stupid. Like give in. It didn’t help that Piers was getting bolder and not only reciprocating his attraction but encouraging it physically.

A warm hand slid to the front of his briefs, feeling the lingering result of Piers’ playful grinding game. A stiff reminder of what had transpired in the truck a few minutes ago. Had Piers ever had sex before? It was a question that lingered in the back of Chris’ mind when he had the younger man on his lap pressing into him like he wanted to be fucked.

Chris squeezed his erection through the thin fabric and closed his eyes. He really shouldn’t be thinking about him this way. Piers was still a student for chrissakes! A student at his workplace. He could get in a _lot_ of shit if anyone caught on to…. To what? Nothing had happened.

Yet.

Chris groaned.

 

*            *            *

It took a bit of time before Claire convinced Piers to actually get on the bed. But when he finally gave in to the inviting pile of blankets and pillows he crashed. Hard. Claire waited patiently for her friend to fall completely asleep, talking to him about what the heck he was doing with Jake at a bar of all places. She made sure he was breathing the heavy breaths of deep slumber before she covered him up and shut the door to her room. Chris was gone – probably locked himself in his room so he could avoid whatever she had to say. Sighing heavily, she made her way to the couch.

For the thousandth time since she found out about their attraction to each other, Claire found herself wishing her brother and her friend would just make it official already. Good thing it was the weekend. Piers was going to be hurting in the morning. The thought of Piers suffering for his uncharacteristically rebellious night out with Jake Muller made the redhead smile.

Serves him right.


	20. I'm Dying.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Claire plays 20 questions.
> 
> Okay so its taking me forever to write this chapter so i figured i'd give you guys something. So this is technically part 1 of chapter 20. I'll get the rest of it out to you ASAP.

“Ugh…”

The pounding of his head greeted Piers well before his eyes adjusted to the darkness of the room. A room that he realized wasn’t his own by how soft the bed beneath him was. He was halfway to sitting up when he also realized how badly his body actually felt and quickly slumped back down to the mattress with another pain-filled groan.

It took a moment to fight through the layers of fluffy pillows, blankets and stuffed animals that had somehow been made into a nest around him, but he eventually managed to stand up, only to have his stomach lurch in response. Relenting once more, Piers dropped back onto the bed and curled around some of those unnaturally soft pillows.

 _“Claaaaiiirrree….”_ he whined.

He could hear someone moving around the house and it took a minute before the door finally did open and the red-haired Redfield stuck her smug little face into the room. He glared at her only because he couldn’t do anything else right now. 

“Help me….” His voice sounded pathetic even to his own ears. 

His friend made her way over to the window and mercilessly tugged the blinds open. Piers did all but hiss at the sunlight when it hit his sensitive irises. He buried his head beneath the pillows to escape it and sunk further into the blankets.

Claire chuckled at him. _“You poor thing,”_ she didn’t sound concerned at all. “What can I do to make it better?” She started running her fingers in his hair in an attempt to annoy him and he couldn't move any more out of reach to stop her.

“Claire _stop_. _Nooo, I’m dying._ ” 

“Look I brought you some medicine,” the she-devil waved an unopened bottle of her brother’s beer above his head, and Piers poked his head out from beneath the pillows. He groaned at the sight of it. 

“Whats with that noise? I thought this was your new flavour of choice?” She chided.

“Why do you hate me?” Piers whined again and snuggled closer to the pillows seeing as his friend was being a complete bitch right now. 

He heard her set the bottle on the night stand and felt the bed rock as she crawled onto it. “Sit up, Piers.”

He didn’t move so she tugged on his arm a little until he finally untangled himself enough from the pillows to actually sit up. He winced in the sunlight like he’d just awakened from some seasonal hibernation. When he was up, Claire handed him a bottle of water. He had no idea where she’d pulled it out from but he wasn’t about to refuse water.

 “How do you feel?” 

“Like shit,” he groaned, earning a snicker from his friend. “You think this is funny.”  

Claire grinned playfully in return. Her playfulness didn’t last long though, and soon the questions flooded in. “Piers, what where you _thinking_ going to the bar with _Muller_ of all people?”

His memory was a little fuzzy on the details but he did remember that, yes, he had stupidly agreed to go to the bar with Jake, hadn’t he? Shit, he probably hadn’t even called home to let his mom know that he wouldn’t be coming home. She was probably just about ready to call the police to send out a search party.

“Where’s my phone?” He tried and failed miserably to unscrew the cap off the water bottle, occupying himself with the action and strategically avoiding the question Claire had just asked him because he didn’t have a good enough answer. 

She knew exactly what he was doing, but instead of pressing the issue Claire reached over and took her friend’s phone off the night stand. She waved it in front of him, holding it out of reach when he tried to grab it. “I called your mom when you got here last night and told her you were staying over.” She watched him visibly sigh in relief at that. “You’re welcome.” 

Piers held the un-opened bottle out to Claire. “Can you open this for me?” There was a shamed sort of gratefulness in his smile.

Claire tossed the phone into the pillows and took the bottle from him. “Your turn: What were you _thinking_?” She repeated.

“I don’t know, Claire! It sounded like a good idea at the time, okay? Which is a lie because it sounded like a bad idea and I knew it was a bad idea and yet here we are.”

She handed him the opened bottle of water with an I’m-disappointed-in-you sigh and watched him drink. When Piers put the half empty bottle down, she pressed onward with her questions. “Chris told me you ran into some kind of predator at the bar.” 

“Are we playing 20 questions?”

“Yes.” Claire huffed, “Since my brother has deemed that I can’t have a life, I have to live vicariously through _you_ , Piers. So _stop avoiding my questions_ and spill the beans already.” 

“ _Fine.”_ He made a face at her, too tired and headachy to argue further. He thought about her question for a second before realizing he had no idea how to answer it. “Wait. What are you talking about?”

“Chris saved you from a predator, he said. So was she pretty? What was she wearing? How old did she look?” 

All Piers could do was frown. He didn’t remember fighting off a _predator,_ let alone a woman who’d been hitting on…. _OH._ “I don’t remember,” he lied. He could still feel the weasel’s clammy hand on his arm….ugh!

“Come on, Piers! _Think_. Don’t tell me my brother made up a story about some creepy chick hitting on you at the bar just to justify bringing you home.” 

“Oh you mean the weasel.” Piers laughed suddenly and rubbed his face in his hands. It was all coming back to him now in detail and the whole scenario was gross and yet funny at the same time. Especially since Claire assumed he’d been hit on by a woman. 

Claire blinked “What?”

“It was a greasy-looking guy in a suit hitting on me last night.”

“A guy??” Claire’s eyes widened at the news. Piers waited for the intrigue to return to her bright blue eyes and when it did she reached out and patted his cheek sympathetically. “He probably thought you were some kind of twink.” 

Piers swatted her hand away. “What’s a twink?”

“A young, pretty gay man.”

Piers made a face and started to argue “I’m not-“ 

Claire raised her eyebrows.

“Okay, m _aybe_ that’s more accurate than I’d like to admit.” He rubbed a hand up through his hair and chuckled. He was hurting too much to really argue the gay thing now, anyway.

“Did he touch you?” 

“Claire!” 

“ _What!_ It’s a serious question!”

“Can I have some medicine now? You got any Tylenol?” He wasn’t going to answer these stupid questions anymore. 

She held up two small white tablets, one in each palm. She offered him one of them and pulled it away when he went for it. “ _Piers_.” she warned. 

Piers whined. Fuck this wasn’t fair at all. She was torturing him when he was at his lowest. “A little bit. But it was only knees and shoulders and it was really gross okay can I just have the fucking Tylenol?” 

After a second of looking him over Claire handed Piers one of the two pills. He took it and swallowed it with a drink of water before reaching for the second pill. 

Claire pulled the second Tylenol out of his reach. “My last question, okay?”

“Fine.” Piers huffed in defeat, dropping back into the bed to wait for whatever else she needed to know from him. There was no point in fighting her when he was feeling this bad, anyway. “Shoot.”

“Where’s your shirt?” 

Piers thought about that, glancing down across his bare torso. Good question. “I…don’t know. Didn’t you put me to bed? What did _you_ do with my shirt?” 

“I didn’t do anything with it!” She reeled at his accusation. 

“Well I _obviously_ had it at some point and I don’t remember much besides you talking to me before I crashed.” 

“I didn’t take it!” 

He shied away from her loud voice. “Hey, _I’m_ the victim here,” he reminded her.

Claire punched him in the leg in reply and Piers didn’t know if he was laughing at the pain or crying because of the nausea that the sudden movement brought on. In all seriousness, Piers wasn’t sure what had happened to his shirt during the course of the night before. He was pretty damn sure that he’d left the bar with it on, but after that…? 

He could feel the intensity of her stare and he rolled his eyes. “I didn’t lose it with the creeper, don’t worry.” Her sigh of relief didn’t go unnoticed. “Thanks for the vote of confidence, by the way.” 

“ _Well!_ I wasn’t there! I don’t know what happened! That’s why I’m asking!” 

Piers actually sat up so he could shoot her a very unimpressed look. “Do you really think I’d just let some greasy, ridiculously creepy guy just manhandle my shirt off in the middle of a crowded bar?” 

“You were pretty drunk when you got here, Piers. Maybe you did.” Claire shrugged. 

Piers stared at her. “ _No!_ I… lost it…” He really had to think about it now. He knew for a fact that he didn’t actually _lose_ it but where had it gone? Where had he even taken it o- _Oh_. Oh the truck incident was coming back to him now. “Oh…” 

Shit. 

He flopped back down against the bed for the thousandth time and stared at the ceiling while his head absorbed the gravity of what he’d done last night. The details where a little fuzzy but he knew what had transpired inside Chris’ truck, and he was damn positive that Chris had to be upset with him right now. 

Claire had started pestering him after his sudden silence, poking and prodding at him in various ways to get him to talk. “Piers? What? What happened? Did you remember something?” She stabbed her pointy little fingers against his ribs a few times before Piers couldn’t ignore it any more.

“Jeez, Claire stop! Can’t you see I’m dying?”

“ _Well_?”

Piers glanced away from her. “Can I have that second Tylenol, please?” 

“ _Nope_.”

Piers sighed. “I forced your brother to make out with me. In his truck after we left the bar.” 

“I doubt you _forced_ him to do anything, Piers.” She snorted.

Piers rolled into the blankets again, not wanting to deal with any of this right now. “No I’m pretty sure I did! Uuugh he’s probably really upset right now.” 

Claire stared at the pathetic ball of mess that was her friend and watched the distress ooze from him. Why was he an idiot? “Piers seriously I’m really sure that you can’t force a grown man to do anything he didn’t want to already do. Unless you held him down kicking and screaming, which is entirely impossible considering my brother’s muscle mass and your noodle arms.” 

“I don’t have noodle arms.” Piers huffed from under the blankets. 

Claire laughed, rolling the tylenol in her hand a little. “Come on, get up. You want the tylenol or not?” 

Piers sat up obediently at that and took the offered medicine. “What should I do?” 

Was he asking her for advice? “I don't know. Talk to him? Its really up to you.” She slapped his cheek affectionately before she slid off the bed. “I gotta go though.” 

Wait. What? “Where are you going?” 

“To Sherry’s house.”

He whined. “But I feel really sick…” She couldn’t just leave him like this….

Claire laughed cruelly. “And? What am I supposed to do about that?” 

“Claire take care of me…” 

“The key is under the mat outside. Lock up if you decide to go home, okay?” He watched her grab her things and shuffle out of the room. "Bye Piers!" A moment later her heard the front door shut tight behind her. 

What an awful friend she was. 

Groaning, Piers flopped back into the bed of pillows and stuffed animals.

After laying there for a while he became acutely aware that he was alone in the house. He hadn’t heard anything at all since Claire had left, and now that he was thinking about it… If she wanted him to lock up when he left, where was Chris?

God, was he so upset that he felt he had to leave the house while Piers was sill there? How was he supposed to recover from this?


	21. Progression

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Piers is hormonal, and Chris is just as bad in this chapter. This is the first truly NSFW scene in this fic so enjoy it, you dirty little things.

Piers fell asleep again shortly after Claire had left the house. He’d done a bit of snooping around, but ultimately he was sick enough to fall right back asleep as soon as he hit the couch. What woke him was a familiar hand-touch to his forehead - something familiar enough to make him think that he was at home. For a split second, anyway.

Chris moved his hand away from Piers’ forehead when the kid blinked awake. He couldn’t keep from smiling at the surprise that flashed across the kids face. Apparently, Piers didn’t expect to see him so soon after last night’s fiasco.

“Hey.” 

Piers flushed and averted his eyes as if he’d been caught doing something wrong. “Hi.” 

“How are you feeling?”

Piers shrugged, sparing a careful glance at Chris as though he were gauging his mood. It was pretty cute. 

‘‘M’okay.”

“Good. Claire said you were in pretty rough shape when you woke up.” Chris chuckled and ruffled Piers’ already messy hair before withdrawing completely. He grabbed the gym bag he’d dropped on the floor and started for the hallway.

“Hey,” Piers sat up quickly before Chris could leave him, speaking up before he had any clue what he actually wanted to say. Chris stopped. Piers froze. “Uhh…Are…are you mad?” 

The question made Chris frown. “Why would I be mad?”

“Because I’m an idiot,” he rubbed his hands over his face to hide his shame. Claire had clarified just how much of an idiot he was earlier with her endless questions. 

“Are you referring to last night when you and your friend presented an obviously well-made fake ID to the bouncer of the local tavern and proceeded to order a large quantity of alcohol that you couldn’t handle?” Chris chided, leaning one arm against the wall. 

That hit the nail on the head. Piers huffed a helpless sigh of pure guilt, the slightest hint of red crossing his nose and cheeks. “Yeah, that.”

“Does it really matter what I think?”

Piers scratched the back of his head, “Well…yes…I really am sorry about all of that. You shouldn’t have had to bring me here.”

Chris acknowledged the apology and tapped the wall before disappearing down the hallway. Piers dropped back down onto the couch with a huff, staring up at the ceiling. So Chris _wasn’t_ mad at him, but there was still that lingering ‘he’s disappointed in me’ feeling and that was almost worse.

Now was probably a good time to grab his stuff and leave before things got too uncomfortable. Considering Chris didn’t mention certain _things_. Like what they’d done in the truck last night….

After a few minutes of lying there motionless, staring up at the ceiling, Piers pulled himself up and glanced toward the hallway. Chris hadn’t come back out yet. The teen hoisted himself completely off the couch and started toward Chris’ room. Why? Well because apparently he was the poster child of questionable decisions. 

Halfway down the hallway he heard what sounded like running water - a shower? That explained why Chris hadn’t come back to talk to him. He must have come back from the gym. Piers debated going back to the living room for now and waiting there but that was as dumb an idea as leaving.

Chris’ bedroom wasn’t much more inviting than the couch. It looked a bit different in the daylight than it had the other night when he’d stayed over. The last time he was in this room he’d nearly been shot in the dark. Piers rubbed his arm at the memory. There were some serious layers to Chris Redfield and the more time they spent together the more of him he got to see.

The ex-soldier’s room was plain with picture-less walls, a lone-standing dresser, and a nightstand, on top of which were loose coins, a lamp and a pair of dog tags. It was very telling. Chris used this room for the basics: storage, sleep and privacy. Claire must have influenced the layout of the rest of the house with its trinkets and various colors.

A sizeable closet took up another wall with large mirrored doors. Spotting his rough-looking reflection, Piers ducked closer to spike up his haphazard bangs. Chris had seen him like this? Ugh. He winced at his attire: last night’s jeans and socks, and a missing shirt. Piers flexed in the mirror. At least he looked good without a shirt, he mused. If Chris had seen him two years ago this would have been embarrassing.

“ _Noodle arms_ , my ass,” he scoffed, recalling Claire’s comment on his physique.

Chris’ bed was pressed against the far corner wall and made to perfection. Sheets and blankets so tight you could bounce a quarter off them. It reminded him of the way his father made the bed. It always drove his mother nuts when he made the bed like that. Piers would hear her complain she couldn’t get into it again because the blankets were tucked so tight and when she did finally get in she couldn’t move. It always made Piers laugh hearing her complain about it.

He wasn’t sure what he was doing in there, or why he was waiting for Chris to come back out, but the teen flopped down on the taut blankets and listened to the faint running water of the shower. His head still pounded a bit. If he closed his eyes he could really feel the blood at his temples pulse with each heartbeat. Fuck hangovers. If he was ever going to drink like that again he was going to make sure he picked a better tasting beverage. He vaguely remembered having to force down the beer Jake had been bringing him.

Jake.

Where did that guy go anyway?

His eyes popped open at the memory of the school secretary in a golden dress with her hands all over his friend. _Oh shit._ If they actually _did anything_ ….

Piers slapped a hand over his eyes and laughed out loud. Monday morning was going to be fun.

He didn’t have to wait long before the shower stopped and there was movement on the other side of the bathroom door. He lifted up off the bed a little. Chris was going to be coming back out any second now and Piers felt like his brain had stopped doing what brains were supposed to do. Like think. 

By the time the bathroom door opened and Chris stepped out - towel wrapped loosely around his waist - Piers had no idea why waiting for him in his room had seemed like a good idea. Even Chris looked surprised to see him there.

“Can I help you?” Chris was standing there dripping like some kind of sex god and all Piers could do was stare at his mostly-naked form from his place on the guy’s bed. 

What Piers _should_ have done was greet him by tugging the towel off his hips in the doorway. Get a good look at all that Chris had to offer. That was what his dirty mind _told_ him to do…

What Piers _did_ do was sit up and start rambling.

“I…uh…I just wanted to clarify some things about last night like how I had _no_ intention of being left by myself the whole night and that if _my friend_ had stuck around instead of taking off on me things wouldn’t have ended up the way they did with the creepy guy and everything and you having to bring me here and…and other things…” He only paused because he’d run out of air and things to say and he had to take a breath before he passed out or something.

Chris ignored his spiel. “Are you done?” he asked, making his way to the dresser to pull out a pair of shorts and fresh socks.

At his question Piers shut up feeling as though he’d done more harm than good.

_Great job, brain. Just verbal diarrhea everywhere why don’t you._

A rolled up pair of socks hit him in the forehead.

“I get it. You messed up. So own up to it and move on.” Simple. Straightforward. Chris.

Momentarily stunned, Piers blinked at that before reaching back to retrieve the tossed socks from the far end of the bed. He fidgeted with them, unfolding and refolding them as he tried not to watch Chris go through the hangers in his closet in search of something to change into. He hadn’t meant to stare. But with Chris still in that towel with his back turned, Piers had a nice view of the guy’s physique from an angle he didn’t normally get to appreciate. So he did.

“I’ve made worse decisions growing up. Trust me.” Chris went on to say.

The man was damn fine from all sides. It’d be a shame if that towel dropped… Piers bit his lip, feeling the familiar rush of blood collecting where he definitely did not need it to go. He was supposed to be apologizing, not fantasizing! Ffftt.

“You going to watch me get dressed?” Chris had noticed his hungry stare and was waiting expectantly for him to remove himself from the room now.

Piers wished he had the guts to stay where he was. “You going to let me?” Oh good. Now his hormones were doing the talking.

Chris smirked at that and smacked him in the head with his pants. “Get outta here.”

“You still keep a gun under your pillow?” Piers joked, tossing the socks back to him as he was ushered out into the hall with a push.

“You want to find out?” Chris shut the door on him, smiling as he did so.

oOo

Piers really should have gone home. It was the responsible thing to do after a night out. He should have faced the music and got caught up on his chores. On his homework. His father was coming home soon. Piers had important things that needed tending to. Future plans. College applications and such.

What he _did_ do was make himself comfortable next to the T.A. in his office while Chris immersed himself in his work. Turns out Chris had a routine he liked to follow on Saturdays. Unlike Piers, he was good at getting done what he needed to. Today that included typing up some sort of lesson plan for the grade nine students he helped Miss Alomar teach.

Piers occupied himself with the collection on the bookcase for a while. Despite his plan to avoid remembering too much, the memory of being on his back across this desk with Chris on top of him came back in high definition. Flustered, he flipped through several military handbooks, flying guides, aircraft identification books and bio-warfare-themed fiction novels before settling on a National Geographic magazine centered on Africa.

“Do you like your job?”

Chris looked up from his laptop. “At the school? Sure. I get to tell kids like you what to do all day.” he snickered.

“You miss flying?” Piers asked, choosing not to let the _kid_ comment get to him.

Chris stared at the letters of the sentence he’d just written, trying to find his place again. “You have no idea.” Back to writing.

“Would you give up your job at the school if you could go back to it?”

Chris saved his document and turned to the one with all the questions. Piers wasn’t even looking at him.

“It’s not an option. So no.”

“Not even if you could be a civilian pilot?”

“No.”

“Who were those guys you were with at the bar? Military friends?”

The teen flipped through the pages of the magazine absent-mindedly as he interviewed Chris like a distracted talk show host. When Chris didn’t answer this time, Piers looked up to find he had his full attention.

“Sorry,” he winced, closing the magazine. “I’ll stop now.” Oh man, he was starting to sound like Claire with all his questions, wasn’t he?

“They’re buddies of mine. They’re part of my unit.” Chris corrected himself, “My _former_ unit.” There was something there in his voice when he said that. Piers had heard it before when Chris told him about being discharged. It was a tone of regret. Like he’d left behind the life he preferred. There obviously was a deeper story there. One that Chris kept close to his chest.

“Will you introduce me to them sometime?” Piers put the magazine back in its place on the shelf. When he looked back to Chris the T.A. was watching him with something akin to amused fascination.

“What?” Piers reddened, suddenly self-conscious.

Chris leaned back in his chair, “You want to meet my friends.” He was smiling. Sort of. It was more of a suppressed smile than a full one, and Piers didn’t understand why he was looking at him that way.

“Should I not?”

Chris stretched in his chair. It was obvious he wasn’t going to get anything productive done with Piers around. “You don’t want to meet those guys.”

Reverse psychology didn’t work on Piers. If anything, it only made him want to meet Chris’ friends _more_.

“You’re just worried they’ll like me more than you.”

That made Chris laugh. “That’s exactly what I’m not worried about.”

Piers didn’t push the issue. If Chris didn’t want him to meet his pals Piers couldn’t force him. He tried not to assume it was because of the age difference between them, but it lingered in the back of his mind.

“You have anything to drink?” Done with that subject for now, Piers switched tactics. It had to be at least noon and Piers had finished off the water bottle Claire had given him a long time ago. Chris had offered him something to eat earlier, but the thought of eating anything made him nauseous all over again. Water however was definitely in order if he was to ever get rid of the subtle pounding of his head.

“Whatever you find in the fridge is yours.”

By the time Piers reappeared in the doorway with his water, Chris had immersed himself back in his work. There was something attractive about him when he was completely focused like that. It made Piers want to distract him. It was like his sex appeal went up a few levels just because he wasn’t paying attention.

And Piers had been so good up until now.

The teen placed his glass on the desk, watching for any indication that Chris was aware of his presence. Nothing. Chris continued to stare at his screen. Occasionally he would stop typing to pick up a pen and scribble something down on paper. But then he was glued back to the laptop screen.

For a time Piers watched over his shoulder. When Chris still didn’t acknowledge him he placed his hands on his shoulders tentatively. Chris stopped typing at the touch. Piers traced the indented grooves of muscle beneath his shirt lightly with his fingers.

“What are you doing?” Chris questioned gently.

“I don’t know,” Piers’ answer was an honest one. “I just…want to touch you…”

Chris felt his core heat up at the confession. The attraction he’d been suppressing since last night threatened to break free again. This was Piers’ doing. His own feelings he could repress to some degree. But when it was Piers initiating….

Chris turned around in his chair. Piers paused, unsure of what to expect from the one shooting him such a lusty look. When Chris pulled him down by the back of his neck for a kiss, Piers melted into it. He really _really_ liked it when Chris kissed him. He liked to think he was getting better at this making out thing too. It helped that he had such a good teacher.

_Teacher. Heh._

Chris was kissing him rougher this time, seizing the sides of his face with big hands and pulling him in with a repressed passion the teen was beginning to recognize. The reserved part of Chris fell away pretty quickly when Piers did what he wanted to him.

There was something else he wanted to do to Chris, though.

It had Piers down on his knees in front of the chair feeling for the button of the older man’s jeans.

Chris watched the one between his knees, curious as to how far he was going to go.

Piers tugged the button open and looked up at him for some kind of permission. When Chris didn’t say anything Piers smirked and folded away the denim in his way. Chris was wearing black cotton briefs under his jeans and the guy wasn’t stopping him so…

Piers felt inside his briefs in search of his length with a lot less hesitation than expected. Chris leaned back in the chair to allow space for that warm hand to find his semi-hard cock and Piers took hold of it, a smug look crossing his face when he did. Chris couldn’t help but smirk back. So the kid was serious about doing this, huh? We’ll see how serious he stayed when he got a mouthful of-

Piers freed him from his briefs, exposing his sizeable erection to the cool air of the room. Chris stopped breathing when Piers looked him over before boldly drawing him into his mouth. It wasn’t just that Chris didn’t expect it, but it had been a shamefully long time since someone had gone down on him. Piers’ tongue was soft and wet and everything he had been aching for.

Piers watched him, taking a second to enjoy the heavy-lidded look the older man was giving him before returning his concentration to tonguing the underside of his cock. He imagined what it must feel like to be the one receiving his mouth's attention and Piers took his cues from the almost pained expressions and gestures Chris gave off whenever he did something new to him. The fact that Chris was undeniably well endowed just fueled Piers' appetite for him. A muted moan escaped from the older man when Piers pulled him into his mouth as deep as he could go.

“ _Nngh_ … _fuck_ ….”

Chris scratched inattentively at Piers’ fine hair in time with the rhythmic bobbing of the younger man’s head, losing himself a little more the closer Piers coaxed him to the edge.

At some point Piers lost his sense of time. He was so focused on giving Chris pleasure that he didn’t register the insistent tapping of fingers on his shoulder. Chris was trying to warn him just how close he was to orgasm but the teen wasn’t letting up.

_“Piers--”_

Piers didn’t stop. He didn’t even slow down. He liked the way his name sounded when Chris was breathless.

Chris groaned, feeling his balls tighten and his self-control dissolve a little more each time Piers took him in. Unable to hold back any longer, he pulled Piers in close and held him there with strong hands, shooting his load into that eager mouth with a held breath and several deep shudders.

Piers, upon being unexpectedly gagged, released the iron hold he had on the older man’s thighs. He clenched his watery eyes shut and waited patiently for Chris to let him go. It was a surreal experience. He could feel everything. From the intermittent pulsing of the cock between his lips to the strong grip Chris still had on his head, to the thick accumulation of cum coating the back of his throat. It was all completely new but somehow not foreign. He winced inwardly when some of Chris’ seed slid down the back of his tongue before he could stop it or swallow properly. The gag reflex he didn’t know he had screamed at him to pull away but he stayed where he was until Chris was done with him.

Finally Chris released his hold. Piers pulled off him taking in a much-needed breath through his nose. He would have preferred to breathe that air through his mouth but currently that orifice was occupied by unswallowed spunk.

Chris was breathing heavily, his face flushed red and chest heaving. His thumb caressed Piers’ lips appreciatively while the teen looked up at him with a mixture of pride and uncertainty. It took another second for Chris to register that he hadn’t swallowed what he was given.

Well that had to be uncomfortable.

Chris reached back for the glass Piers had brought in and offered it to him. Piers took the offered solution and spit a mouthful of white into the glass. He swiped his wet lips with the back of his hand.

“Thanks.”

The ex-soldier’s cheeks were rosy now which told Piers he’d done a good job. And Chris was looking at him with what he could only guess was intrigued affection. Had Chris not expected him to go all the way?

“Was that okay?” He asked just in case he wasn’t reading the others expression right.

Chris leaned down to take his lips with his own in an unexpectedly slow, meaningful manner. It left Piers reeling. Chris had to have tasted himself through that kiss.

“Yeah.” Chris pulled away with a smug expression like he’d won at a game the younger didn’t know they were playing. Piers wanted to go for his lips again but Chris was already getting up and zipping his pants. Assuming he was in the way now, Piers followed suit and backed against the desk to let Chris by. But Chris wasn’t interested in leaving.

Piers yelped at being lifted up off his feet and slung heavily over the bigger man’s shoulder.

“What are you _doing?!_ ” He laughed as Chris proceeded to carry him down the hall. The last time anyone had lifted him clean off the ground was when his father carried him in much the same way to bed when he was a little. Difference was Chris handled him like he carried a hundred and fifty pounds on a regular basis and Piers felt more like a sack of potatoes than a resistant kid being hauled off to bed.

“Where are we going?” It was funny how a house could look so different from this angle. They entered a room Piers didn’t recognize until he was dropped unceremoniously onto his back on Chris’ mattress.

Chris had a hungry look about him. It had Piers’ heart rate up again. When his legs were lifted up and apart Piers froze like a deer in headlights causing the other to laugh at his reaction. Chris positioned himself between those legs until his clothed crotch was pressed firmly against Piers’ in a very suggestive way. He looked down at him with a lusty but reassuring smirk, which had the younger man relaxing once more beneath him.

Piers got the impression Chris was testing him. Seeing how far he would let him go….

It was a huge turn on.

If Piers was hard from the blowjob, it was nothing like this now. It was probably a good thing they were fully clothed because Piers would let him do whatever he wanted right now if they weren’t wearing any. Having Chris pressed up against him like this made his erection throb. Chris leaned down over him and kissed him again, rocking his hips like they were slow fucking in the missionary position.

He hadn’t meant to consider it so seriously, but Piers couldn’t stop the thought from forming: He wondered what it would feel like to have Chris’ cock inside him. It wasn’t something he’d honestly been enthused about until now. Now the idea didn’t seem so strange. Was it possible to crave a feeling you’ve never felt? With the ex soldier grinding against him rhythmically slow like this it was all he could think about.

Piers gripped the muscular forearms on either side of his head and tried his best to keep up with Chris’ gentle mouthings. He squirmed as he was peppered again and again with surprisingly playful kisses about his lips and neck. They made him laugh out loud.

A very prominent vibration buzzed between them. Chris paused his attack. They exchanged a mutual look of confusion before registering the cause of the buzzing.

Chris lifted up off Piers enough for the younger to pull the cell phone from his pocket.

Piers made a face at the name on the screen. “It’s my mom.”

“You going to answer it?”

“Nope.” He tried to toss it but Chris had him by the wrist before he could let it fly. Chris snatched it up and pressed the screen before the call dropped. Piers glared up at him unimpressed as the device was held up to his ear. After a brief pause of bitter silence he gave in.

_“Hi mom.”_

Mrs. Nivans didn’t sound impressed on the other end of the phone. Despite how angry she sounded, Chris didn’t regret making her son answer.

“Yeah, I’m sorry. I thought Claire talked to you?” Piers winced at the shouted reply he got. Apparently that wasn’t the answer Mama Nivans wanted.

With Piers successfully distracted, Chris took it upon himself to break the kid’s concentration. Still positioned between Piers’ legs, he rocked his hips purposefully into him again, keeping the phone snug against the kid’s ear. Paybacks were a bitch.

“ _Uhn_ \--uh huh. I just didn’t feel very good,” Piers closed his eyes, trying his best to ignore what Chris was doing to him. “S-studying. Math project or something.”

Chris snorted. _“’Math or something’?”_

Piers glared at him. “I mean it was important and I lost track of—Okay. Yeah, I’ll be there,” he caved to his mother’s demands. Piers took the phone from Chris and turned it off, tossing it to the other side of the bed.

“Well?”

“I’m dead.”

“She coming to get you?”

The sigh was answer enough. When Chris tried to get up and off of him Piers held him back. “No don’t. Not yet.” He buried his face in his neck feeling the scruff there and imprinting the moment into his mind so he could take it with him when he left. Piers was painfully sure that if Chris left him like this he was going to have blue balls for the rest of the week.

Chris relaxed and pressed up solidly against him again, feeling the gradual swell of arousal creep back in. Oh this was bad. Piers wanted more than he was currently getting and Chris was beginning to want to give it to him. “When’s she coming to pick you up?” he asked into the soft skin of Piers’ neck. Piers’ body shivered at the caress of his lips.

 _“Soon,”_ he almost whined.

“Alright, we gotta stop, Piers.” Chris chuckled. He paused his lusty grinding.

Piers was hypersensitive now and he rutted up into the man on top of him with a needy moan. “Ugh, I can’t go home like _this_.” He sighed, relaxing back into the pillows in defeat, “I won’t be able to walk to the door, let alone the car.”

Chris pushed off of him. Piers adjusted himself uncomfortably with one hand down his jeans once he was freed. His look of distress had Chris considering how long it might take him to relieve his ‘problem’. He wanted nothing more than to return the favor…

No. If Piers’ mother was as upset as she sounded over the phone it wouldn’t take her very long to get here. It wasn’t in Piers’ best interest to be looking freshly fucked when he left. The kid wasn’t all that good at hiding how he felt and Chris didn’t want to cause him any more grief than necessary. Unfortunately that meant Piers didn’t have that long to cool down.

It took everything he had to do it, but Chris got up off the bed and held out a hand to him. Piers scowled at that hand, but he took the help up. He adjusted the bulge in his pants again once he was on his feet, “ _Damn_ , Redfield.”

“That’s a good look for you.” He snickered, patting the younger’s hard on playfully.

“Thanks.” Piers winced at the cruel gesture of affection. He grabbed Chris’ hand mid pat, holding him fast. Chris grew serious when Piers didn’t let him retract his hand. Piers leaned into him, making the T.A. feel what he’d done.

“I’m not going to forget this anytime soon.” he warned.

Chris would have responded with a sarcastic comment had he not been feeling the proof of Piers’ words. “I would apologize but…”

Piers moaned at the feeling of Chris’ hand rubbing him; taking him to new levels of hard with simple movements of his palm and fingers.

 _“Fuck me,”_ he groaned, gripping Chris’ arm and burying his face in the older man’s shirt.

Chris paused at that.

Realizing too late what he’d just said, Piers fumbled to correct himself, “I-I meant that as ‘Fuck. Me.’ Like two separate…things. Not that I want you to actually _fuck_ me—just…” he released Chris’ hand. “ _Fuck._ ”

Wow. How was it he could take things from hot to awkward in record time?

Chris didn’t say anything. He still wore a hungry look that gave Piers hope he hadn’t ruined the moment completely. Chris shoved him back onto the bed.

For a second Piers expected the T.A. to take him then and there. He froze anxiously on the mattress while Chris seemed weigh the pros and cons of crawling back on top of him.

Instead, Chris turned away from him in favor of leaving the room. It was unexpected and Piers’ heart sunk. Did he just royally mess up what they had just done? Before he could think too much, Chris reappeared in the doorway and tossed him a shirt.

“Found this in the truck,” he told him. “Can’t let you go home half naked, now can we?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This bloody chapter is as long as our entire one-shot fic "True Strength" and it damn near killed me to finish it (Piers likes to hand the nsfw chapters over to me to write, which is why this took so long to update.). Hopefully you can re read it over again a few times to tie yourself over while we write out Chapter 22.


	22. Sorry-Not-Sorry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally, a new chapter!  
> If you haven't figured it out, this story has been/is still on "hiatus" for a little while! We're still working on it, just very slowly (as you've no doubt noticed!)  
> Disclaimer: Apologies to all of you who are currently in or have recently graduated high school and have noticed some inaccuracies in terms of character behavior/school programs in this fic. To be fair it has been a LONG time since either of us has been in high school and we had no idea this high school AU fic prompt would turn out to be an ongoing 20+ chapter story with actual plot! So again, thank you for overlooking our random mistakes. "Sorry-not-sorry!"
> 
> Yours truly,  
> Chris & Piers

Driving home with his mom was quiet and awkward. She didn't even look at him while she drove, which told Piers that she was beyond upset with him. She was never usually this quiet and it would have made him feel like shit if he wasn't still dealing with the fact that he was still uncomfortably hard right now thanks to his alone time with Chris.

Piers sighed heavily out the window and his mom took that as her cue to start in on him.

"I don't know what you think you're doing, Pierson, but I don’t like this game of yours."

"I know."

"If you know so much then why am I here dragging you back home when you promised to be back yesterday?"

He didn't have anything to say to that. What was he supposed to say besides apologize to her? He already felt bad about it, what more did she want? Piers shifted uncomfortably in his seat, adjusting himself without being obvious about what he was doing. If anything, this conversation was helping to successfully deflate his boner. Which was both a blessing in that he needed to calm down already, but also a curse because he could feel a full-length lecture coming on.

"Are you acting out because of all the pressure we're putting you under? Is it the school thing?”

Piers said nothing, choosing instead to watch the blur of trees outside his window dejectedly.

“Honey, you know we're only doing this for your benefit. You need to decide where you’re going after you graduate before it’s too late and you miss your chance at the best military school."

"I know."

The SUV turned down the familiar tree-lined dirt road to the house and then turned once more up the lengthy driveway to their sizeable ranch home. Mrs. Nivans sighed, throwing the vehicle in park once they pulled up to the house.

Piers dropped out of the passenger’s side as soon as the engine was cut and started for the house, only to have his mom pull him back by the arm. "Pierson. Why don't you talk to me anymore? What’s gotten into you?"

"It’s nothing, mom. I'm fine. I'm sorry for all of this, it was just a big mix up. It won’t happen again."

The look she gave him clearly said that she didn't believe him, or that she didn't think he was telling her 100% of the truth, but thankfully she let him go. For now.

What was he supposed to tell her? The truth? That he spent his savings on a fake ID he’d used to get into the local bar, and got hit on by a creeper, then went home with his friend’s older brother? An older guy he’d been trying his best to seduce because it was ridiculous how much he liked him… A guy who just happened to also be a teacher at his school. Teaching assistant. Whatever.

Right. Because his mother would be so much more accepting of that story.

He got all the way to the porch before Mrs. Nivans cleared her throat, forcing her son to pause. "I want you to muck out the barn before dinner."

"What? Now??"

She stepped up onto the porch passed him. "It needs to be done. And since you were supposed to help me out with it yesterday and this morning you were nowhere to be found..."

Distress.

"Mom..."

"Oh no. You are not getting out of this one, and when you're done I'm going to need help with dinner."

Piers groaned. So much for that shower he'd been itching to have. He adjusted his pants a little more while his mother had her back to him. He wasn't as hard as he had been, but his junk was still pretty damn excited. God damnit... What was he supposed to do? Jerk off in the back of Cosmo's stall? Gross.

"Got it?"

"...Got it."

Piers sighed and stepped back down the stairs and headed for the barn.

The barn was just about as nasty as he expected it to be. As smart as horses were, they still shit all over the place and no matter how well he cleaned the stalls the last time he’d done it, it was just as bad now as if he’d never done it at all. The one good thing was that he didn't have to shovel around the horses; they would have found bliss in pestering him at every turn. Especially Cosmopolitan. Since it was a relatively nice day out his mother had already let her and the other horses out to free-range in the pasture.

Not wanting to be in the barn for hours, Piers grabbed the shovel and started hauling out the used bedding. The sound of the shovel scraping against the cement floor was enough to attract curious attention though and Cosmo poked her dark inquisitive nose into the barn. A gleeful wicker escaping her when she saw who was doing the cleaning.

Truthfully, he hadn't been spending a lot of time with his horse lately and she had noticed his absence. Cosmo paid no heed to her boy’s sour mood as she pushed passed the large wooden door Piers had closed specifically to keep her and the other animals out of the barn. Unfortunately for Piers such a door was no match for a horse of her caliber. She was exceptionally good at mouthing the handle until it unlocked.

"Hey-"

She stepped through the mess of straw and shit he’d just shoveled into a pile like it wasn't there, kicking it all over the place with hooves now covered in muck. Piers just watched her do it, the purest form of disbelief crossing on his face. He dropped the shovel and gestured at the mess she’d just made of his hard work.

"Why would you do that?”

She whinnied at him, content just to have him in her barn, and smashed her face up against the side of his head. The action nearly knocked Piers off his feet. He grabbed her big brown face and tried pushing her backwards. The mare didn't budge.

"Cosmo, no. I closed the door for a reason!"

Anyone could guess just how much a horse actually listened. Cosmo was about as obedient as a two year old who'd been given something exciting to play with. She made sure to nibble every inch of Piers' head of messy hair - slobbering her big lips over his face - and no matter how much he pushed her away she always came back for more.

To make it worse, his mom had unleashed the dogs upon the yard and they had bee-lined it straight for the barn as if the teenager inside was a beacon for attention.

Great.

The two border collies jumped and yipped around his feet, running through the now scattered pile of shit and straw that Piers was trying to clean up and everything was a mess all over again and he was still fucking horny and it felt like his hangover headache was back in full force now.

“Guys! Down already! Get!”

The horse pushed her face harder against his cheek as if she were vying for her boy’s attention and the dogs barked and nipped at each other playfully at his feet as though it was a game.

Finally Piers had had enough of all the chaos.

He managed to unglue himself from Cosmo's side long enough to throw one of his gloves out into the yard, sending both dogs barreling over each other after it. As soon as they crossed the threshold of the barn Piers pushed and locked the door to keep them out.

And then there was one.

Cosmo looked miffed that he had left her for the dogs even for a moment. She fussed when he reached for her bridle.

"C'mon girly, I'm sorry."

Piers tugged on her harness gently and she followed him up until they got to the door leading into the pasture. Cosmopolitan did not want to go out with the other horses and she became a literal dead-weight on four legs when she realized where he was leading her. Try as he might he couldn't move her an inch from where she stood.

"Stubborn ass. When did I get a mule?"

Taunting her did nothing but earn him a disgruntled nicker and a defiant tail swish.

Piers wasn't in the mood for her attitude. He had a lot of shit to get through in the next few hours and damnit his head hurt! While the mare stood anchored stubbornly to the ground, Piers found a rope hanging from the wall of tack and effectively tied her to the door with it. He gave her just enough room to watch him, without messing up his pile again.

She tugged at her leash, unimpressed. Piers gave her shoulder an affectionate rub before going back to the mess.

“I know. I’m a big meanie.” He told her, grabbing up the shovel again.

\------------

Piers wasn't getting a break after the barn was clean. Not that he expected it. As soon as he stepped into the house his mother was on him, handing him a peeler for the potatoes and carrots and whatever else she could think of. The teen silently went about peeling the vegetables, trying to stay out of his mother’s focus while she cooked.

"So how's school?” She broke the silence after a while, “Do you even still go?"

Piers dropped the potato peeler onto the counter and shot her a look. “Really?”

"Well! How am I supposed to know any different? You lied to me once already."

"I missed curfew ONCE! It’s not that big a deal!"

She stopped fiddling with the utensils in her hands and turned to her son. "It only takes one incident, Piers. And then you're doing it all the time and suddenly you're on the streets begging for food with nowhere to go and no job and no friends."

"Yes, because that’s exactly what happens," he rolled his eyes.

At that moment his phone started ringing. As soon as he pulled it from his pocket, Mrs. Nivans snatched it away from him.

"I'm taking this, too!" She slid her finger across the screen, rejecting the call. "Who is this? ‘Jake Muller’? Is that your dealer?"

"Are you serious."

He reached for his phone, curious why Jake was calling him only to have his mom hold the cell phone out of reach.

“Now I’m doing drugs?”

She was being a bit dramatic about all of this.

“Well are you?”

Piers slapped a hand to his face and groaned. “Can I have that back please.”

His extended palm was met with empty air.

"No. I'm keeping this until you smarten up." Mrs. Nivans tucked the phone into the front pouch of her apron and returned to the stove.

"You can't do that."

"I'm fronting the bill so I can do whatever I want with it." She used the wooden spoon in her hand to point at the peeler lying forgotten on the counter. "Peel."

He huffed, snatching the peeler and restarted skinning the potatoes, albeit with attitude. "You're going to kill my social life, mom. I'm going to be alienated from all my peers."

She snorted at that. "Good. Your 'peers' are who got you in this mess to start with."

Piers paused his peeling, her words slowly sinking in.

"It’s a small town, Piers. Did you think someone wouldn't see you and I wouldn't find out? I had four people texting me about you on your little adventure last night. I don't live under a rock." She waited for a sarcastic reply and got none.

Her son went back to fiercely peeling the potatoes, avoiding eye contact.

"Piers."

He grunted, not looking up from his task.

What sort of things had his mother gotten texts about? Who would text his mom about his whereabouts? Did her friends not have lives of their own? He remembered a lot of what happened, and none of it was... mother-text-worthy. The drinking with Jake; The creepy guy putting his hands on him; then he'd been pretty much escorted out of the bar by Chris.

Was he nervous? A little.

Tapping from the sink. Mrs. Nivans clicked the wooden spoon against the steel sink basin, watching her son before sighing. "Pierson, you’re going to break the rules your father and I set in place. This sort of rebellion is part of growing up, and I understand that because I did the same thing when I was your age. I'm not happy about it, and I’m not encouraging it, but I understand it."

Piers glanced up from his potato peeling.

"It’s the lying that upsets me. Getting your friends to lie for you. I have hope that we raised you better than that."

If you ever needed to hear a guilt trip, this was it. How was he supposed to react to that?

"Sorry."

It was all he could think to say.

“And if I ever catch you going to a bar again I’m going to make sure you don’t graduate just so I can home school you for the next four years, understood?”

“Understood.”

He wouldn’t put it past her.

The rest of dinner was quiet. When they were finished eating Mrs. Nivans sent her son off to work on his much neglected homework.

Piers had wanted some alone time earlier for obvious reasons, but he’d had more than enough time to calm his hormones and now he was just exhausted. He’d barely gotten out his textbook and binder when he felt his eyelids getting heavy. Halfway through the second sentence on his page Piers dropped his pen and let his forehead drop onto the paper.

 

\-----------

 

_“Eeeeeeeeewwww!!”_

The horrified shriek that echoed down the hall caused Chris to drop the spaghetti noodle he’d been about to sample. The string of pasta splashed back into the boiling pot of water and he cursed his kid sister’s ability to hit that octave.

He called out to her and instead of answering him Claire appeared in the mouth of the hall looking traumatized. She held onto the wall for support.

 _“I knew I should have stayed at Sherry’s…”_ she mumbled.

“What?” he asked again, wiping the table off.

“You’re disgusting, that’s what.”

Chris paused his cleaning at that, “What’d I do?”

“So gross…” She repeated, ignoring his question and shuddering past him to wash her hands at the sink.

Chris watched with a confused expression his sister soap up and scrub at her skin feverishly as though she’d touched something she’d much rather never think about again.

“What are you going on about?”

Chris tossed his cloth into the sink she was using.

Claire’s already unimpressed face screwed up further at the unwarranted splash and she wiped stray suds from her cheek with the back of her hand.

“I’m _never_ drinking out of a glass again.”

Oh.

OH.

All at once Claire’s reaction made sense and Chris felt his face turn bright red at the realization. His little sister had found the glass in his office. The one Piers had used after….

“Shit.”

“Yeah.” Claire agreed, refusing to look at him as she snatched the dishtowel off the stove handle and aggressively dried her hands. “I don’t even want to know why that was in there.”

“You weren’t supposed to find that….”

Chris rubbed his forehead apologetically and watched his kid sister relocate into the living room, flop onto the couch face-first and pull the blankets over herself.

He left her to cocoon while he retrieved the glass in question and dumped it in the bathroom.

Well that was one way to keep her out of his office! He tried not to be awkward about it when he returned to the kitchen, but the idea that Claire now had confirmation that he and Piers had been messing around had his face burning up again.

So when Claire was still buried in the blankets when he returned he was grateful for the chance to recover.

Dinner was awkward.

Claire poked at her whole-wheat spaghetti with chopsticks, still wearing her blanket like a cloak at the table and refusing to look her older brother in the eye.

Chris watched her stab at her food with an equal disinterest in eating.

“Must you use chopsticks?” he asked for the hundredth time since her strange habit had formed.

“Yes,” she insisted from beneath her makeshift hood. “Must you use our drinking glasses for unsanitary purposes?”

Her comeback was unexpected and if she’d said it to shut him up it worked.

Chris clamped his mouth shut and leaned into his palm, poking dejectedly at the uneaten noodles and sauce with his fork.

Seeing him uncomfortable again made her feel bad for giving him a hard time. He’d clearly forgotten to cover up after…. _whatever_ they’d done in his office while she was out.

“You guys official now or what?”

Chris looked up to see her skillfully pick up a meatball with her sticks and shove the whole thing in her face.

“I don’t know.” He answered thoughtfully.

“You like him, don’t you?” she asked between chews.

“Sure I do.”

“Then hurry up and become official boyfriends already.”

That made him laugh. He had to admit her approval was encouraging enough to push his own hesitations away.

“You didn’t tell him I was at the bar last night, did you?” Piers really shouldn’t have been there. Not only was he underage, he had gotten himself completely intoxicated and almost taken home by some scumbag. It had taken a lot of self-restraint on Chris’ part to not put the guy hitting on him through the table.

Chris held his fork a little tighter at the memory of the stranger grabbing Piers by the arm. That asshole didn’t know how lucky he was to be able to walk away with that arm still intact.

“I told you I didn’t have anything to do with that.” Claire licked her chopsticks clean, oblivious to the stirring of emotions next to her. “I had no idea he was going there. I didn’t even know he had ID. It’s not actually something I ever expected him to do.”

Chris sighed heavily at the news and leaned back in his chair. Claire and Piers had been friends for a much longer period of time, so to hear Piers was starting to take uncharacteristic risks after their little talk about how he was feeling pressured at home….

Claire saw her brother’s look of disappointment and added, “But he was out with Jake, so it makes sense he’d get into trouble.”

“He's the same kid that he got into a fight with at the dance, right?”

Claire snorted at the memory, “I wouldn’t call that much of a fight, but yes.”

Claire could see her brother working things out in his mind.

Chris had his opinions about Jake Muller's father - also known as the school’s principal. Mr. Wesker was a tough guy to read, and word among the teachers was he was a better school Principal than a supportive father. Growing up without the support of a parent you saw every day in the halls had to be tough. Chris empathized with Jake’s situation, but if he was the one encouraging Piers to act out when he was already feeling the pressure of choosing a college….

“He doesn’t strike me as a good influence for Piers.”

“Oh, he’s not.” Claire agreed a little too quickly for her brother’s liking. "Jake's the newest member of our little group and he and Piers butt heads quite a bit, but they're friends. Jake wouldn't purposely get Piers into trouble."

"Which is why they were getting fake ID cards and sneaking into bars on a Friday night, right?" Chris skewered a meatball.

He watched her eat a little more enthusiastically now. She paused after a minute, noticing her brother’s interested gaze, “Why? You’re not worried about Piers, are you?”

Chris shook his head and returned his focus to his own plate. “He’s a smart kid.”

Claire studied him a moment trying to guess what he was thinking. “Jake is a bit of an impulsive hothead but he would never intentionally get Piers into trouble.”

Chris picked up his plate and headed for the garbage with it.

Claire turned in her chair, “You’re not jealous of Jake, are you?”

Chris snorted at that.

“Well that’s good because Piers is so into you it’s almost sad.”

Okay, now she was just feeding the fire.

“That so?”

“He wears your sweater to school.”

Chris nearly dropped the plate he was scraping into the garbage. Claire watched him fumble with it and drop the fork instead.

“He does?”

Claire’s grin grew wide. “Uh huh.”

Her brother pulled the fork out of the bag and frowned at the sauce now coating his forearm. “Why are you encouraging this, Claire?”

“Because you guys are cute together. Because I like it when you’re happy. Because I know a good thing when I see it and I believe in seizing the moment, unlike you.”

 

\-------------

 

“Are you daydreaming again?”

Chris looked up from the steaming coffee mug he’d been staring into. Claire was being observant again when she should have been working on the school assignment that was in front of her on the island counter they both sat at.

“Don’t you have some algebra to focus on?” he sat down his mug and tapped the neglected binder in front of her.

 _“D ifferential equations,”_ she corrected.

 _“Get-it-done-icus,”_ he rebuffed.

Claire made a face at him.

“Lame-o-saurus.”

The room fell to silence once more as Claire reluctantly looked over her notes and her brother’s gaze fell back to the gently swirling steam of his mug.

Thoughts of Piers flooded his mind for the hundredth time that day. It couldn’t be helped. The kid was more or less permanently on his mind after what had transpired between them earlier. The memory of the younger man’s fingers across his shoulders, the way he confidently got down on his knees knowing exactly what he wanted to do to him, the look he gave when he’d been given unspoken permission to continue….

He twitched at the memory, recalling just how good it felt to be in Piers’ mouth. God how long had it been since the last time he’d gotten off like that?

Should he have let them go as far as they did? He wasn’t so sure.

With mild arousal came the twinge of guilt. It was a familiar feeling that reared its ugly head periodically ever since he’d learned Piers Nivans was a student at his workplace. The feeling that said _“Redfield, leave this one alone,”_ each time he felt himself falling a little too hard for the kid. There were so many reasons why they shouldn’t get any closer, and yet Chris found himself craving more of Piers so badly at times it physically hurt.

Looking for a distraction from the work in front of her, Claire frowned at her brother’s super concentrated coffee-gazing. She spit out the pen lid she’d been gnawing on in his direction. Unexpectedly the blue plastic flew from her lips and landed with a splash right in her brother’s drink catching Chris completely off guard. He recoiled from the splash that burned him and Claire had never snorted so loud in her life.

When Chris cursed and jumped out of his chair in search of a dishtowel she booked it down the hall. Her laughter changed into a banshee shriek when the floor shook behind her with the weight of her brother’s pursuing footsteps. She didn’t have to see it to know he had that dishtowel wound tight like a weapon in his hands.

 _“Sorry-not-sorry-!”_ She shrieked, slamming her bedroom door just before he could follow her through it.

As luck would have it, Chris had grabbed the doorframe just as the wooden door slammed shut, pinching the tip of his middle finger between it and the frame.

The pained string of profanity that followed had Claire jumping on her bed practically crying, _“Oh my god I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry!!”_ as she hugged her nearest pillow for protection.

Her door was open a fraction and she didn’t dare push it open further. From the sounds of it, Chris was on the floor in the hall. Probably rolling around in pain.

“Chris…?” She called from the bed.

Chris was on the floor alright.

He lay there on his back holding his right hand to his chest. His eyes were squeezed tightly shut as he dealt with the pain of his crushed finger. He didn’t make a sound.

Claire crawled to the carpet and sat down on her side of the door, looking at him through the crack. There wasn’t any blood on the door frame…that was a good sign, right? At least she hadn’t taken his finger off.

“You going to make it, soldier?” her voice was meek and apologetic from behind her wooden shield despite the affectionate poke at his former tough-guy title.

Chris groaned, but didn’t move.

“You weren’t supposed to grab the door frame.”

 _“Yeah,”_ Chris half laughed, half cried, _“Got that. Thanks.”_

“It’s your own fault.” She pushed out of her room and crawled to his side. “Let me see it.”

Chris groaned again, not wanting to see the damage just yet.

“You don’t like blood,” he reminded her.

“I’m a tough girl. Give me your hand.”

He did. As bright red as the tip of his middle finger was, the blood squeezed out by the pinch had collected into an instant blister beneath the surface of his skin instead of bleeding out. A nasty dark purple bruise had already formed beneath his flattened fingernail too. Claire winced in sympathy pain. Chris continued to stare at the ceiling, hoping she wouldn’t touch it. 

“You might lose that nail.” She informed him, turning his finger over in her hand and twisting his arm to an unnatural degree as she did so.

“Awesome.”

“You want me to call Piers? He can come over here and kiss it better for you.”

If he wasn’t in a world of pain, Chris would have made her pay for being a smart ass.


	23. Wednesday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to Wednesday.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Its been a whole 8 months since i updated this fic! I'm so sorry! Enjoy this! Hopefully i'll kick it up and update way more often!! I have no choice, this is kind of a cliff-hanger...

It was Wednesday and Piers was having the worst week of his life so far. Well, most of it was bad - watching Claire skid across the cafeteria and chase down Jake Muller bright and early Monday morning had been so worth it. The rest of the week though? Completely horrible. 

He was grounded, which meant his mom had confiscated his cell phone. Meaning… He had no contact with any of his friends except for school hours. She was also making a point of picking him up as soon as school was out which didn’t give him much time to do anything but pack his things and leave.

It meant that he hadn’t gotten the chance to talk to Chris at all since the weekend. Piers hadn’t even had the opportunity to corner Chris in the school hallway when he saw him - and he’d only seen him a handful of times since the start of the school week. Fleeting gazes across crowded hallways, never a chance to talk. 

He was… distressed. Angry. He’d gotten himself into this mess, and if he ever got un-grounded, he’d have to really try to not repeat the stupid mistakes he’d made over the last week. Like staying out when he wasn’t supposed to, forgetting to call and update his parents… Actually doing his schoolwork… Life was tough for an eighteen year old, okay?

“Piers, seriously.” 

Claire’s voice piped up from beside him and Piers dropped his book onto the table. He wasn’t reading a word of it anyway.

“You’re upsetting the girls. They’re delicate and your mood swings are scaring them.”

He just looked at her, unimpressed, before glancing over Claire’s shoulder at Helena, Deborah and Sherry who were huddled together at another table across the room. Sherry smiled when she saw him looking at them and waved almost too enthusiastically at him. He smiled back before glancing at Claire again. “Well, they should learn to toughen up. Like you. You’re a tough girl, Claire. show them how its done.”

She cuffed him in the ear at the comment but he still couldn’t keep himself from laughing.

“Piers Nivans!” 

He laughed, though not amused at all and rubbed at the side of his head where she’d hit him. “I got it, I’ll try and be normal, not-angry Piers. For their sake. Wouldn’t want the local female population to think that I have actual human feelings besides the ones they’re used to seeing me with.” He started gathering his books, shoving them into his backpack as Claire watched him.

“Can you be a bit more dramatic? You’re acting like this is the end of the world or something.”

It was the end of the world. Piers was a teenaged boy with emotions and hormones that were completely out of control right now. How long had he been teasing Chris for? More than a few weeks, and if anyone thought that Chris was the only one affected by it, they were idiots. All Piers could think about was going down on Chris the other day - He’d never done that before, but shit, he’d do it again and again as long as it was with Chris. He couldn’t stop thinking about how it would feel if it was Chris going down on him. How would he do it? Little teasing licks before swallowing all of- 

Piers groaned, his head dropping onto the table they were sitting at. Someone was struggling to stand at attention under the table and Piers was glad that his pants were tight enough to keep things in place. He sill needed a minute to compose himself though. Fucking uncontrollable teenage hormones. “Look. Claire. Im going through… a lot right now. Can you just… smooth things over with them? I’ll try not to take this out on you and the female posse, alright?”

He could hear the annoyance in Claire’s sigh, but instead of turning down his request, she rubbed a hand in his hair as though he were some kind of sick dog. “You’re lucky you’re cute, Nivans.” He turned his head so he was facing her, half a smile crossing his lips, forcing Claire to smile back at him. “I mean, if you promise not to get snippy with Deborah again, I guess I could tell them to back off and give you some space for a while…”

“You are the unsung hero of every emotionally wrecked teenage boy in highschool, Claire.”

She rolled her eyes at that. “Yeah well. If you an my brother weren’t so adorable together things would be hella different.” Claire pushed her chair back, standing up and grabbing her bag from the floor. “Look…” She hesitated a minute, turning to see if the trio of girls was still waiting patiently for her talk to be over. “I can see that you’re really having a hard time right now, being grounded and all, sooo… if you can sneak out of the library, Chris is holding a study period today in room 202 for the junior’s that need a bit of extra help. If you’re lucky, maybe you can catch him before the period’s over?” 

Piers lifted his head off the table and grinned at his friend, and she responded with a suggestive wink, tossing her bag over her shoulder before taking off to the table Sherry and the girls were sitting at. 

Excellent. At least he knew where the T.A was at right now. It made things a little easier - he just needed an excuse that would get him out of the library. Study periods at this backwater school were akin to jail time. instead of being in class listening to their teacher drone on and on about shit no one would need to know out of high school, they were locked in the library, forced to study something. There were sign in sheets and penalties to the students who didn’t show up. 

He might be able to get away with the bathroom excuse… Piers glanced over at the table Claire had left him for; Helena and him had the same class next period, which might work in his favour. He tossed the rest of his notes into his backpack before lugging it over to the girl’s table, smiling at the four of them when they noticed him. 

“Ladies.” Piers greeted before focusing on the girl he’d actually come to talk to. “Helena can you do me a favour and bring my bag to class? I uh.. need to get out of here for a bit.” 

She looked confused for a second, like she hadn’t expected him to ask so nicely or something. “Uh… Yeah sure. Where are you going?” 

Piers smiled, dropping his bag next to hers. He took a page out of Claire’s book and gave the girl a wink, using a bit of charm and suggestion to get out of answering that question. “You’re a lifesaver.”

Helena turned a visible shade of red as Piers left, earning an elbow from her sister. She didn’t even like him that way!

Getting passed the teacher assigned guard duty would have been easy if it hadn’t been Miss Wong sitting there like Cerberus guarding the gates of Hell. She was as sharp as they came and she could usually see through the lies her students told her. She almost didn’t let Piers leave - his only saving grace had been that he’d left his stuff with Helena. 

Still, even though she left him go, Piers was pretty sure she knew exactly what he was playing at but he wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. He’d made it out of the library, now all he had to do was get upstairs and find a classroom he hadn’t seen since he’d been a junior.

======== 

The last time Chris had seen Piers was in the halls of the school.

Chris had caught the younger’s eye and Piers had given him a half smile in greeting before lowering his gaze and disappearing in the crowd. He had classes to attend, school work to focus on, friends his own age to be conversing with. The last thing Piers needed was a torrid love affair with a Teaching Assistant, Chris reminded himself.

Still, Piers was on his mind no matter how hard the T.A. tried to push him out of it. He wondered how Piers felt about what they had done the last time he was over. Did Piers regret any of it? There was no taking it back, but Chris was willing to forget about it if that’s what Piers wanted. If only he could talk to him!

Good luck being able to talk about personal things in the school though. It was his place of work after all and the last thing either of them needed was to be found out. Chris didn’t even want to begin thinking of the repercussions that would occur if they were caught…

“Hello Captain. Glad you could join me.” A young male voice greeted Chris as he slipped through the door and into the room. Finn McCauley, one of Chris’ favorite students was sitting alone at a table for four near the window studying the tower of Jenga blocks in front of him. 

Chris smiled at the title the junior had addressed him with. 

“I thought I asked you not to call me Captain.”

Finn looked up from his game as the T.A. took up the seat across from him. His pale blue eyes sparkled with admiration from behind the small wooden blocks. 

“You did,” he said matter-of-factly. “But I respect your history as a military operative and I firmly believe the saying ‘once a soldier, always a soldier’, Sir.”

Chris raised an eyebrow at the quirky young kid. When Finn went back to carefully pulling another block from his tower the T.A. shook his head, smiling. Macauley was the new kid and so far he hadn’t had the best of luck fitting in with the other students. He’d moved to town with his family and Chris had become fond of him rather quickly. He had decided to take him under his wing until Finn found some friends to hang out with between classes. 

That was proving to be a bit difficult though, seeing as Finn was very content with their friendship. It didn’t look as though he was making an effort to find friends his own age. 

“What’s with the leaning tower of –“

“Please don’t say Pisa.” Finn was completely focused on the block he was removing. The tiny tower swayed but didn’t collapse. 

Chris watched with amusement. “I wasn’t going to say that.”

“Yes you were.” Finn waved the block he’d freed happily. “Your turn!”

“You do know the bell’s about to ring and you’re due in class soon, right?”

That put a damper on the young man’s spirits. He went back to choosing another block to carefully pull out of his tower. “I told Miss Alomar I wasn’t feeling well.”

Chris chuckled at that, shaking his head a bit. “And why would you do that?” 

The kid shrugged, barely, steadying his hand as he nudged a new block out of the Jenga tower. It teetered a little, but so far hadn’t fallen. “I-“

The block tower clattered across the table just as the door opened, surprising both Chris and Finn. It was rare that anyone ventured into the upstairs classrooms during class time like this, and Chris was even more surprised to see that it wasn’t just any student poking his head into the classroom, but Piers.

He seemed surprised too, like he didn’t expect to see what he was seeing. He focused on Chris for half a second before his hazel eyes shifted towards the kid sitting next to Chris amidst the scattered blocks on the table. Finn visibly shrunk back in his chair in response to the look that had been shot his way. 

“Sorry. I didn’t know you were busy.” 

Chris froze. The last person he expected to see here was Piers, because there was no reason for him to be here. His mind jumped instantly to the idea that something was wrong and Chris was seriously worried. He stood up quickly, chair scraping across the tiled floor; a successful distraction that made Piers hesitate at the door instead of booking it out of the classroom completely. 

“Piers, wait a minute.”


	24. Priorities

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Who is this kid? What does he think he's doing? Doesn't he know that Chris has higher priorities? Mainly, priorities called Piers? :I

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! Once again, sorry for the late update! I know a lot of you have been commenting on Chapter 23 and i haven't been the best at replying to any of you, but i really appreciate every single one of your comments!! I won't tell you that updates will start to be regular, but i haven't forgotten about this story, don't you worry! <3

Piers waited in the hallway outside the door for Chris to come out of the classroom and a moment later he did, pushing the door half closed behind him.

“What’s wrong?” Chris asked again. His concern was touching, but not necessary. Piers felt ridiculous enough for showing up out of the blue without having Chris worry about him. 

“Nothing’s wrong. I was just…in the area. Thought I might swing by. You know, and say hi.”

 Chris’ concerned eyebrows retreated back to their normal state at that.

“Oh.”

Now pleased, but skeptical brown eyes looked Piers over. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you in this wing. How did you know I’d be up here?” When Piers looked trapped by the question, Chris added, “Not that I mind if you’re keeping tabs on me...” He smiled that smug Redfield smile.

Piers scoffed, “Your sister does that for me. She told me you’d be up here helping juniors with their work, buuut…” Piers glanced around Chris and through the crack of the open classroom door back at the single student inside and his game of wooden blocks. “I didn’t realize Jenga counted as ‘work’. If that’s the case, I’ve been seriously jipped of some game time.”

Chris peeked back into the classroom where Finn was staring at the mess of blocks on the table in front of him absentmindedly, unaware of the two’s choice in conversation. The junior leaned back on his chair holding himself self consciously, not building them back up or putting them away.  The kid looked downright depressed.

Chris returned his attention to Piers. “We don’t typically play games between periods but this little guy’s kind of a…special case. Finn’s relatively new to this school and he doesn’t have many friends yet so I spend time with him when I can.”

“Ah.” Piers didn’t like that answer, though he couldn’t articulate why. “Well don’t let me distract you. I just wanted to say hi.” Hadn’t he already said that?

But Chris didn’t let him leave that easily. He reached out for Piers’ shirtsleeve when the teen looked about to bolt it out of there. Piers stopped and looked where Chris was holding onto him as Chris turned him about face and straightened the teen’s shoulders so he could get a good look at his attire. The older man looked him over once before letting him go again and taking a step back with an ever-widening grin. “Is that my--?”

“No.” Piers answered immediately, covering the stitched lettering and symbol of wings at his collarbone with his hand in an awkward manner. The navy blue sweater was obviously a few sizes too big for him and the look on Chris’ face right now had him wishing he could just disappear into it. “I have a hundred sweaters like this one.” He lied, shifting his eyes to the far wall, unable to look Chris in his big dumb grinning face anymore.

Chris didn’t let it drop though. “Oh really?”

“Yeah really.” Piers stepped back when Chris tried to move his hand away from the emblem again.

“All navy blue?”

“I like navy blue.”

Chris nodded like he believed him, jutting his lips out and pretending to lose interest in the topic all of a sudden. “Interesting….” Then he lunged at Piers, tugging his hand away from the sweater’s branded insignia with a grin. “Do all your sweaters have my call sign on them?”

Piers was ready for him and he slapped the hand away, laughing and pointed to the classroom. “Don’t you have other students to harass?”

Chris stopped pursuing him and sighed, shaking his head, the last few chuckles dying off under his breath.  He was happy to see Piers, but he was right. Finn needed him right now.

“Don’t _you_ have a class to get back to?”

“Period’s almost over.” Piers shrugged, walking backwards away from the one person he really wanted to be moving closer to. “I’ll see you later, I guess.”

When would they see each other next? There was no real way to speak openly about it in the halls, he realized. He’d just have to rely on Claire for intel if he wanted to find the T.A. again tomorrow.

That’s when Finn popped out of the classroom. “Where are you going?” he asked meekly from under Chris’ arm. Chris jumped at the unexpected voice beside him.

Piers looked around. The hall behind him was empty. Who was he talking to?

“Me?” Piers pointed lamely at himself.

The kid nodded. “Do you like Jenga?"

“Oh, uhh…”

“Piers has to get back to class.” Chris volunteered, giving Piers a way out.

“You’re always telling me I should make friends, Captain.” Finn pointed out. “Besides, I already figured out he’s skipping. I’m not an idiot.”

Chris had nothing to say to that. This was the first time the junior had shown any interest in establishing a new connection with another student. Chris looked to Piers for his answer, leaving the ball in his court.

Piers looked back down the hall like he wanted to go, but then realized he had no desire to go back to the library. Especially when Chris was up here. And as little as he cared about the younger classes or making new friends, staying for a game with Finn was a way to spend a few more minutes with Chris….

 Ah priorities.


	25. Previously on FTM

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As suggested by DarkExperience here on Ao3, we've sat down and summarized this entire fic for you! feel free to skip this if you feel like you're up to date :)

Previously on FTM

 

Chapter 1 – Jake Muller is kicked out of class for reacting to rumors (started by the Harper sisters) that his crush Sherry Birkin would look good on the arm of the school’s new teaching assistant Chris Redfield. Helena makes fun of Piers’ hair.

Chapter 2 – Claire Redfield and Sherry Birkin ask Piers why Jake got suspended. Piers begrudgingly fills them in on the mishap. Claire agrees it’s “cute” that Jake is crushing on Sherry. Sherry is embarrassed by the suggestion.

Chapter 3 – Piers goes to the local shooting range to practice with his father, who is home from a tour. An overly friendly stranger (who looks vaguely familiar…) comments on Piers’ aim and thus begins a ‘friendly’ competition.

Chapter 4 – Piers and Jake are dragged to a Student Council meeting with the girls to determine what the next school dance theme should be. Claire learns that Helena likes her brother.

Chapter 5 - Back at the shooting range for the second time, Piers runs into the same stranger. This time the stranger introduces himself as simply “Chris” and comments on Mr. Nivans’ method of pushing his son to do better. Chris gives Piers a few pointers of his own and allows him to use his handgun. Piers learns that Chris was in the air force. Chris calls Piers out for asking a lot of questions.

Chapter 6 – Piers runs into Chris at the school library. Things get awkward once the pair realize the age difference between them. Piers asks more questions about the T.A.’s time in the air force. Chris won’t spill the beans, and Piers takes that as a challenge.

Chapter 7 – Piers hands out flyers for the upcoming Under The Sea school dance at the behest of the student council. He volunteers Chris – who was just passing by – to help him. The pair flirt with each other until Piers asks the wrong question and flusters Chris.

Chapter 8 – Piers runs into Chris after school. Chris volunteers to wait with Piers until his ride comes. They talk about Piers’ family background in the military and Chris questions Piers’ desire to follow in his family’s footsteps and suggests he consider other options.

Chapter 9 – At the Redfield residence Claire is pleasantly surprised to find Chris has made breakfast for her. She comments on her brother’s newfound happiness and wants details, since he insists he has not gotten back together with his ex, Jill. Chris denies his change in mood and tells her to hurry up so they can make it to the school on time. Claire vows to find out the cause of her brother’s happiness.

Chapter 10 – It’s the weekend and Piers takes his horse out for a ride in the rain. Chris and Claire happen to be driving by when Claire insists on riding with Piers. Chris meets the pair back at the Nivans’ ranch and Mrs. Nivans gives Piers heck for allowing Claire to injure herself on horseback. While Claire is in the house with Piers’ mother, Piers leads Chris out into the stables….

Chapter 11 – Piers runs into Chris at the gas station while walking home after school. Chris offers him a ride since it is still raining. Chris gives Piers his sweater to wear. Piers has a hard time convincing himself he doesn’t have feelings for Chris.

Chapter 12 – Claire tries to figure out what is the cause of her brother’s sudden happiness. She tries to bounce ideas off of Piers but he’s not the ideal sounding board for this particular problem... He suggests she let it go. Claire notices Piers wearing her brother’s sweater.

Chapter 13 – The evening of the school dance has arrived. Claire forces Piers to dance with her, despite his best efforts to avoid her now that she knows something is up between him and her brother. Jake accuses Piers and Claire of dating, much to the surprise of the group. Piers tackles Jake and the pair are kicked out of the dance. Chris, one of the chaperones for the dance offers to give Piers a ride home instead of having him walk.

Chapter 14 – Piers goes to the Redfield’s on a Saturday morning to harass Chris out of the house. After some interrupted flirting, Chris agrees to go to the shooting range with Piers.

Chapter 15 – Piers asks Chris about his military background and Chris begins to open up to him while they shoot targets. The pair get to know one another a little more and Piers tricks Chris into “taking him on a date”.

Chapter 16 – Chris and Piers end up back at Chris’ house. Claire has been bribed out of the house so they are alone for the first time. Queue a make out scene across Chris’ office desk! Claire interrupts with a phone call asking if she can stay out for the night. Chris hears Leon Kennedy in the background and promptly cancels his time with Piers in favor of collecting his sister at the mall.

Chapter 17 – Chris drives Piers home after picking up Claire. At the Redfield residence Claire says some hateful words towards her over protective brother.

SUNDAY - At the Nivans’ Ranch Piers tries to leave the house but his mother forces him to do chores around the ranch and have a heartfelt conversation about college and dating his friend Claire.

SUNDAY - At the Redfield residence, Claire initiates conversation with her brother, encouraging her brother to pursue a relationship with Piers. Chris resists her encouragement, but keeps a condom with him….just in case.

Chapter 18 – Sherry finds out that everyone thinks her and Jake are already dating. Claire asks Piers what happened between him and her brother the other night and Piers deflects answering by asking her about her ‘secret boyfriend’. Piers ends up at Claire’s house again to do “school work”, and ends up hanging out with Chris in his office while the T.A. works. Piers admits he’s having second thoughts about choosing a military college. Chris is proud of him for ‘becoming his own man. ‘  
Piers sneaks into Chris’ room later that night while he’s sleeping in hope of some alone time with him, but Chris pulls a gun on him in the darkness instead….

Chapter 19 – A WEEK LATER - Jake talks Piers into sneaking into a local bar with fake IDs. Piers, wanting to avoid his life’s stressors agrees and the pair proceed to drink beyond their tolerance level. By happenstance, Chris is also at the bar with some friends. When Jake leaves his friend alone, an intoxicated Piers is hit on by a creepy stranger and Chris steps in to protect him. Chris offers to bring Piers home but Piers begs him to take him home with him instead. After a brief make out scene in Chris’ truck, the T.A. makes Piers sleep in Claire’s room while the redhead sleeps on the couch.

Chapter 20 – Piers is tortured by both a hangover and Claire that morning. Claire plays 20 Questions while dangling medicine in front of him to get him to admit the events of the night before.

Chapter 21 – Chris comes home to a sleepy / hungover Piers on his couch. Piers apologizes to him for the events the night before. Chris accepts the apology. Later in Chris’ office Piers goes down on him for the first time ever. Their encounter is cut short however by a phone call from an angry Mrs. Nivans looking for her son.

Chapter 22 – Piers is so grounded. And horny. But so grounded. Mrs. Nivans is beyond upset as she makes him do chores while grilling him about how much school he’s skipping, and whether or not he’s doing drugs. She tells him he was sighted at a bar and confiscates his cell phone as punishment for lying.

At the Redfields Claire is tidying the house while Chris is cooking dinner. Claire finds a used glass in his office and is beyond grossed out by the contents. Chris is embarrassed his sister now has confirmation that he and Piers have been messing around. Despite being traumatized by her discovery, Claire still encourages Chris to pursue a relationship with her friend because she believes in seizing the moment.

Chapter 23 – Piers is still dealing with the aftermath of being grounded. He hasn’t been able to see Chris or use his cell phone and Claire, Sherry, Helena, and Deborah are starting to take notice of his sour mood. Claire tries to help by informing him of her brother’s whereabouts. Piers skips out on class to pay the T.A. a visit. When he finds the right classroom Piers also finds Chris spending one-on-one time with a junior. Piers fights off some initial jealousy.


	26. Finn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finn is pretty adorable, dontcha think?

It was an interesting game of Jenga to say the least; Very quiet.

Piers sat himself right beside Finn after a short introduction from Chris. It was as though he was trying to silently intimidate the younger kid, like some kind of Alpha male threat display. It wasn’t his fault - Piers just needed to make sure that this Finn kid knew where he stood in the grand scheme of things, and it wasn't beside Chris Redfield. Not even close.

Finn shifted uncomfortably away every so often as the game progressed and Piers pretended like he wasn’t acutely aware of how distressed he was making the Junior by being seated so close to him.

Chris seemed oblivious of the pair, making a kind of thinking noise before pulling an easily accessible block from the middle of their leaning tower of Jenga and setting it gently at the top.

Finn’s move came next and he went to grab a block he’d been eyeing since his last turn. Just as he started tugging on it, Piers cleared his throat loudly causing Finn to jump at the sudden sound, which in turn caused the entire tower to tumble onto the table with a loud clatter.

“Well that’s a damn shame.” Alright, Piers knew he was being unreasonably mean to this kid.

Sort of.

The poor kid started cleaning up, one block at a time, utterly dejected as if Piers had proven just why he preferred he company of adults over kids his own age. That, made Piers feel a little awful because he was kind of being a dick. He slapped Finn on the back once before getting up. “Tough luck, Macauley. Maybe we’ll get it next time.”

Finn stopped what he was doing, looking up at the now standing Piers like he wanted to say something, but couldn't manage any words. Chris spoke for him “Next time?”

Piers focused on Chris a moment before shrugging like it was no big deal. “Why not? Besides, looks like you two need a chaperone of some kind, eh _Captain_?”

Yeah, so he was making fun of Finn again in a round-a-bout kind of way, but it was actually kind of endearing that Finn called Chris by his old rank, and Piers was a little jealous that he had never thought of that before.

Piers was kind of really jealous actually, if he took a second or two to really analyze his feelings.

Chris helped Finn put the blocks away, eyeing Piers as he did so. "In this case three wouldn't be a crowd," he agreed, picking up on Piers' subtle jealous jabs at Finn's expense. He tossed a block at Piers, who caught it with a grin before it could hit him.

The bell for the period end rang across the school and Piers sighed. He couldn't skip his next class, as much as he wanted to. Piers tossed the last few woodem blocks into their case before clapping his hands together. “Well, it’s been hella fun, but we’ve got class!”

Finn nodded in agreement, feeding on Piers' enthusiasm and abruptly standing from his seat. “Yeah, Mister Simmons doesn’t like it when we’re late.” The kid headed for the door, hesitating a moment in the doorway like he wanted to say something but then decided otherwise and just waved before disappearing out into the hall.

Piers heaved a sigh as soon as Finn was out of sight. He rubbed his forehead with the back of his hand, “Damn, I didn’t think he’d leave!”

Chris chuckled and moved closer to Piers. He stood next to him but not close enough to actually touch him and Piers wished that he would.

“Shouldn’t you be getting to class too?”

Piers knew he should get to class before he got into trouble with his teachers, but when the time came he found he couldn’t move an inch from where he stood.

Chris seemed to have the same sentiment. The T.A. didn’t seem to be going back to whatever teacherly duties he had to do. They stood in comfortable silence for a moment before Piers ventured to catch his eye. Chris was looking over at him fondly. It made something flutter in Piers’ chest. He’d almost forgotten what being next to Chris did to him inside.

“I’m glad you stopped in.” Chris admitted, “I didn’t think I’d get to talk to you again so soon. You still on probation?”

Piers sat down on the desk next to him. “Unfortunately. It feels like I haven’t seen you in ages.”

Chris leaned his butt against the desk across from him. He looked like he had something more to say than just small talk. Piers watched him glance at the clock on the wall.

“Are you…” Chris trailed off, suddenly unsure if now was a good time to bring up the subject. “…Are we okay?”

“Yeah. I mean, I am. If you are, that is. I don’t regret anything if that’s what you’re asking. Not that there's anything to regret. And even if there was something to regret I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t regret it. It was fun. If fun is the right word for what transpired between us… You don’t regret it, do you? Because if you do I can pretend like nothing happened.” Piers huffed, scratching a hand through the short hairs at the back of his head. ”Actually no, scratch that, I don’t think I could act like nothing happened because it did and I know we haven’t had any real time to talk about it, but you should probably know that I’d do it all again if…if that’s what you wanted.” He was running out of breath now and that was usually a sign that he should have stopped talking a few hundred sentences ago. Ugh…

Before Piers’ rambling could get the better of him, Chris pulled the teenager into a hug, laughing. “Piers, stop talking.”

“Right. Okay. I’m done now.” he agreed, pressing his face into the slightly taller man’s chest. Chris smelled even better than he’d remembered. It felt good to be in his arms again, even if he knew the embrace couldn’t last. “Why does Finn know you were a Captain in the military?”

The question was random and Chris released Piers. They were still in a classroom after all and from the sound of it students were beginning to fill the halls.

“He asks questions relentlessly like you do.”

Piers winced at that. Claire was always the one with all the questions. To hear his curiosity was on par with not just the redhead but now this junior Macauley was enough to make him cringe. “I only ask because I have a thing for you.”

“That so?” Chris chuckled, moving to his desk and the materials there in need of his attention for next class. Chris glanced at the door as if expecting someone to come in at any moment. “So, by deduction you think Macauley has similar sentiments?”

“For his sake I hope not!” Piers snorted. “You didn’t tell him everything, did you? Because it took me forever just to get a fraction of your backstory out of you and even then—“

“He knows I was in the airforce because I told him.” Chris relented. “His dream job is to serve his country after high school. He thinks the military is the only way to go. Sound familiar?”

Too familiar. Piers made a face. “Good for him.”

Chris gathered up his laptop and a binder and made his way back over to Piers. He moved in a suggestively slow manner. Serious brown eyes danced over Piers’ clothed frame and Piers had the distinct feeling Chris was imagining what he might look like underneath all that material. It had his face burning up under that stare.

“What?”

“You should take him under your wing.”

“What? Who?? Macauley?” The idea was ridiculous. The last thing he needed was someone to babysit—

“Finn needs a friend like you. Someone who can show him the ropes, invite him to group activities, introduce him to others.”

“Oh no you don’t. I’m not doing your job for you!” Piers laughed coldly, pressing a finger into the man’s chest as he advanced.

“Consider it a favor then.” Chris was pretty persuasive when he wanted something. Damn him.

“I don’t have time. And all my friends are nuts. They’d scare him off. Finn looks fragile. Besides, I already did you a ‘favor’ the other night.” He grinned, tugging him in close by the front of his shirt. “Technically you owe _me_.”

Now it was Chris’ turn to go red.

Piers was pretty sure things would have escalated from there, if you know, the door hadn’t flung itself open with Finn practically yelling “I forgot my bag agai—“

The junior froze at the sight before him.

Piers and Chris pushed apart.

“S-sorry. I just— I forgot my… on the— I’ll just …No, never mind I don’t need it!” He gestured weakly towards the table before turning heel and fleeing the classroom again.

Piers stared at the door for a few fleeting seconds before realization hit. _“Shit.”_ He sprung into action, grabbing Finn’s bag from the floor by the desk and headed for the open classroom door. As much as he didn’t want to cut short his time with Chris, Piers knew that convincing Finn that he hadn’t seen anything was way more important right now.

Piers didn’t have to go too far; Finn had stopped in the middle of the hallway as if he couldn’t figure out where to go from there. When Macauley spotted Piers approaching him, he held up both his hands and took a step back, not entirely sure what to expect from his older classmate. “I’m sorry- I didn’t mean - I should have knocked!”

“Finn, calm down. Whats the big deal? What do you think you saw?”

The kid reminded Piers of a gazelle being stalked by a lion - if Piers made any sudden movements Macauley would bolt again.

“I- I didn’t see a thing! I mean, there was nothing to see but I really should have knocked first- not that I was interrupting anything because that would be completely absurd and against the rules and the last thing I want is to get the Captain in any kind of trouble and and—“

Finn took in a breath, eyes watering at the implications. He sniffed, taking the schoolbag when Piers offered it to him.

“Hey, hey- Don’t start the waterworks! How’re you supposed to survive the army if you’re still crying over stupid things?”

That got his attention.

“Wh-what? How did you-“

Piers smirked. Chris was going to owe him big time for this. “What did you think we were doing? Chris - _Mr. Redfield_ was just telling me about some of your goals after high school. You know, my entire family has served. We might have something in common.”

Finn visibly brightened at that, like he hadn’t expected anything like this. The kid was kind of ridiculously innocent, and Piers still wasn’t sure how he felt about having him around more than necessary, but he needed to keep an eye on him. Just in case he let something slip.

“You can come hang out with my, uh, friends if you want. I mean I know its super fun to hang around with teachers between classes and all, but that has to get boring after a while, right? Besides, if you think Chris is cool, wait until you meet his sister.”

As expected, Finn’s eyes went wide, like he’d never thought of the possibility before. “Captain has a -“

“-Yeah, and I’m sure she’d love to meet you.” Piers slung an arm around the Junior’s shoulder and started steering him down the hallway, away from the classroom they’d just left. Out of sight, out of mind, as they say.

Thankfully, the kid nodded. “You’re pretty cool, Piers!” he admitted shyly, “You know people don’t usually talk to me but here you are!”

 _“Here I am…”_ Piers agreed under his breath.

Chris was going to owe him more than a Chick-Fil-A dinner for this….


End file.
